£ 


<The  True 
Thomas  Jefferson 


By 

William  Eleroy  Curtis 

Author  of  "The  Capitals  of  Spanish  America,"  "The  United 
States  and  Foreign  Powers,"  etc. 


"  Our  greatest  happiness  does  not  depend  on 
the  condition  of  life  in  which  chance  has  placed 
us,  but  is  always  the  result  of  good  conscience, 
good  health,  occupation  and  freedom  in  all  just 
pursuits." — THOMAS  JBFFBKSON 


Philadelphia  &?  London 

J.  B.  Lippincott  Company 

1901 


SPfiECKELS 


COPYRIGHT,  1901 

BY 

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The  True  Thomas  Jefferson 

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SECOND  EDITION 


THE  "TRUE"   BIOGRAPHIES 


With  twenty  -  four  full  -  page  illustrations — 
portraits,  appropriate  views,  and  fac-similes 
— in  each  volume.  Crown  8vo.  Cloth,  extra. 
Per  volume  :  Cloth,  $2.00;  half  levant,  #5.00 

THE  TRUE   GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

BY   PAUL   LEICESTER    FORD 

THE    TRUE    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN 

BY    SYDNEY    GEORGE    FISHER 

THE     TRUE     WILLIAM     PENN 

BY    SYDNEY   GEORGE    FISHER 

THE     TRUE     THOMAS    JEFFERSON 

BY   WILLIAM    ELEROY   CURTIS 

Cloth,  $2.00,  net 

"  The  house  of  Lippincott  started  the  '  true 
portrait'  order  of  biography,  in  contradistinc 
tion  to  the  garbled  eulogy  style  of  hero- 
chronicling,  with  Paul  Leicester  Ford's  '  True 
George  Washington.'  The  next  season  Mr. 
Sydney  George  Fisher,  favorably  known  as  a 
writer  on  colonial  history  and  on  the  making 
of  Pennsylvania,  was  brought  forward  as  the 
biographer  of  '  The  True  Benjamin  Franklin.' 
This  was  a  year  ago,  and  now  comes  '  The 
True  William  Penn'  from  the  same  source, 
and  certainly  Mr.  Fisher  was  well  equipped 
for  this  task.  William  Penn's  life  is  a  first- 
rate  romance  from  beginning  to  end." — The 
Interior,  Chicago. 


Copyright,  1897,  by  A.  W.  Elson  &  Co.,  Boston 

THOMAS   JEFFERSON 
(Painted  by  Gilbert  Stuart) 


TO 

HENRY  WATTERSON 

A  TRUE  DEMOCRAT 
WHO  BELIEVES,  WITH 
JEFFERSON,  THAT  A 
MAN  MUST  SOMETIMES 
BE  INCONSISTENT  IF 
HE  IS  SINCERE 


Note 

THIS  is  not  a  formal  biography.  It  is  intended 
to  be  a  series  of  sketches  as  graphic  and  as  accu 
rate  as  possible,  without  partisanship  or  prejudice, 
of  a  remarkable  man.  Thomas  Jefferson  has  been 
the  subject  of  several  able  and  distinguished  biog 
raphers,  friendly  and  unfriendly,  for  whom  he  left 
an  abundance  of  material  carefully  arranged  by 
his  own  hand.  His  writings,  public  and  private, 
which  are  more  voluminous  than  those  of  any  other 
American  statesman,  have  twice  been  published,  and 
furnish  direct  evidence  concerning  his  acts  and 
opinions.  His  views  upon  public  questions  have 
been  carefully  arranged  in  alphabetical  order  in 
an  Encyclopaedia,  to  which  the  student  of  his 
life  and  times  may  turn  with  satisfaction  and  con 
fidence.  From  these  and  many  other  original 
sources  the  information  presented  in  this  volume 
has  been  gathered  and  arranged  in  unconventional 
form  in  order  that  the  reader  may  see  the  man 
as  he  actually  was,  and  not  as  his  partisans  and 
opponents  represent  him.  (The  purppj£_ofjhis  life, 
which  appears  on  almost  everjrjgage,  was  to  build 
a  nation  upon  this  continent  with  human  freedom 
ancTequality  as  its  f oundatJons.  1  In  his  efforts  to 
accomplish  this  end  he  often  incurred  the  criti- 

7 


NOTE 

cisms  of  his  friends  as  well  as  the  condemnation 
of  his  enemies.  His  faults  were  as  conspicuous  as 
his  abilities,  and  to  form  a  correct  estimate  of  his 
character  both  should  receive  equal  and  honest 
consideration. 


In  a  personal  letter  to  the  author  of  this  volume, 
who  had  requested  of  the  Democratic  editor  some 
prefatory  words,  Henry  Watterson  says :  "  I  do 
not  like  to  see  two  names  upon  a  title  page.  But 
I  will  say  this:  Though  not  a  hero  worshipper,  I 
am  too  good  a  partisan  to  question  my  principal; 
and  Jefferson  has  been  not  alone  my  file-leader,  but 
a  guiding  star  in  my  political  firmament.  I  am  used 
to  measure  all  systems,  to  try  all  causes,  to  deter 
mine  all  policies,  by  the  rules  laid  down  in  his 
philosophy.  To  me  he  stands  out,  after  Washing 
ton  and  Franklin,  the  one  clear  figure  in  our  early 
history,  a  perfect  Doric  column :  wanting  the  bril 
liant  levity  of  Hamilton;  the  sturdy,  but  narrow, 
spirit  of  Adams;  sure-footed  and  far-seeing;  not 
merely  a  statesman  of  the  first  order,  but  a  very 
principal  in  the  domain  of  original  thinking  and 
moral  forces.  The  minor  circumstances  of  his 
private  life  may  interest  me,  but  could  in  no  wise 
change  my  perspective,  because  I  am  fixed  in  the 
belief  that  he  was  an  upright  and  disinterested  man, 
who  considered  his  duty  to  his  country  before  all 
else.  Such  inconsistencies  as  appear  in  his  career 
are  but  proofs  of  this,  since  he  never  can  wholly 
be  true  to  his  convictions,  or  potent  for  good  in 

8 


NOTE 

affairs,  who  does  not  adapt  himself  to  the  changing 
exigencies  of  the  times,  suiting  his  actions  to  his 
words,  his  words  to  his  actions,  according  to  the 
course  of  events.  I  know  of  no  vanity  so  illusory 
and  mischievous  as  that  emanating  from  the  ordi 
nary  yet  heedless  boast  of  consistency.  No  man 
is  the  same  at  five  and  forty  he  was  at  five  and 
twenty.  Nor  does  the  world  stand  still.  To  apply 
principle  to  practice;  to  ally  tradition  with  prog 
ress;  to  stand  squarely  upon  one's  feet,  yet  to 
see  a  little  ahead;  to  refuse  to  bar  the  door  to 
truth,  though  consistency  fly  out  of  the  window; 
— these  are  the  lessons  statesmen  need  most  to 
learn  if  they  would  serve  the  State  and  survive  the 
time;  and  Mr.  Jefferson  had  studied  all  their  ac 
tual  requirements  and  marked  all  their  moral  les 
sons.  More  than  this  I  care  not  to  know." 


Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.— JEFFERSON'S  FAMILY 17 

II. — JEFFERSON  AS  A  LAWYER 55 

III. — JEFFERSON  AS  A  FARMER 90 

IV. — AUTHOR   OF  THE    DECLARATION   OF   INDEPEN- 

DENCE 119 

V. — JEFFERSON  IN  OFFICE 140 

VI. — THE  EXPANSIONIST  OF  1803 175 

VII. — "  JEFFERSONIAN  SIMPLICITY" 186  * 

VIII. — JEFFERSON'S  FRIENDS  AND  HIS  ENEMIES   219  u 

IX. — FOUNDER  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA 254 

X.— JEFFERSON  AS  A  POLITICIAN 269 

XI. — JEFFERSON'S  RELIGIOUS  VIEWS 308  *". 

XII.— JEFFERSON'S  SERVICES  TO  SCIENCE 346 


zi 


List  of  Illustrations 

MM 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON    Frontispiece 

By  Gilbert  Stuart  (usually  considered  the  best  portrait 
of  Jefferson).  From  the  original  in  Bowdoin  College. 
By  permission  of  A.  W.  Elson  &  Co.,  Boston. 

JEFFERSON'S  SEAL  AND  COAT-OF-ARMS 18 

"  THE  PINES" 24 

House  in  which  Jefferson  was  married. 

FAC-SIMILZ  OF  JEFFERSON'S  MARRIAGE  BOND 32 

MRS.  MARTHA  RANDOLPH,  DAUGHTER  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON    40 

From  the  original  painting  by  Thomas  Sully,  in  the  pos 
session  of  Hon.  T.  Jefferson  Coolidge,  Boston.  By  per 
mission. 

PRINCIPAL  BUILDING,  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE,  WIL- 
LIAMSBURG,  VA 57 

Designed  by  Sir  Christopher  Wren. 

THE  ANCIENT   STATE-HOUSE  OF  VIRGINIA  AT   WILLIAMS- 
BURG  59 

Designed  by  Sir  Christopher  Wren.  From  the  painting 
by  Elizabeth  Dennison  Williams,  granddaughter  of 
President  Tyler. 

INTERIOR  OF  BRUTON  PARISH  CHURCH,  WILLIAMSBURG 61 

MONTICELLO,  THE  HOMK  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 94 

Designed  by  himself. 

MONTICELLO— GRAND  SALON,  LOOKING  WEST 98 

By  permission  of  Hon.  Jefferson  M.  Levy,  New  York 
City,  present  owner  of  MoHticello. 

FAC-SIMILE  OF   JEFFERSON'S  INSTRUCTIONS  REGARDING  HIS 

MONUMENT «9 

13 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

THE  COURT-HOUSE  AT  WILLIAMSBURG 122 

Designed  by  Sir  Christopher  Wren. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON 193 

The  profile  portrait  by  Gilbert  Stuart,  from  the  original 
in  the  possession  of  Hon.  T.  Jefferson  Coolidge,  Boston. 
By  permission. 

FAC-SIMILE  OF  JEFFERSON'S  CODE  OF  ETIQUETTE 195 

From  the  original  in  Department  of  State,  Washington. 

FAC-SIMILE  OF  PAGES  FROM  JEFFERSON'  s  ACCOUNT-BOOKS  . . .  209 

From  the  autograph  volume  in  Lenox  Library,  New 
York  City. 

MONTPELIER,  THE  HOME  OF  JAMES  MADISON 22O 

APPROACH  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA 254 

Designed  by  Thomas  Jefferson 

RESIDENCE  OF  A  PROFESSOR,  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA 265 

Designed  by  Thomas  Jefferson 

GLIMPSE  OF  DORMITORIES,  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA 267 

Designed  by  Thomas  Jefferson 

FULL-LENGTH  PORTRAIT  OF  JEFFERSON 337 

Painted  by  Thomas  Sully.  From  the  original  at  the 
United  States  Military  Academy,  West  Point,  New  York. 
By  permission. 

FAC-SIMILE  OF  PAGE  FROM  JEFFERSON'S  BIBLE 343 

From  the  original  in  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washing 
ton. 

FAC-SIMILE  OF  INDEX  TO  JEFFERSON'S  BIBLE 345 

From  the  original  in  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washing 
ton. 

JEFFERSON'S  POLYGRAPH 350 

In  the  possession  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 

THE  STATE  CAPITOL  AT  RICHMOND 367 

Designed  by  Thomas  Jefferson. 


A  Jeffersonian  Calendar 

Born April  13,  N.S.  1743 

Father  died 1757 

Entered  college March,  1760 

Graduated April,    1762 

Admitted  to  bar   1767 

Elected  to  House  of  Burgesses 1769 

Married  January,  1772 

Elected  to  Continental  Congress March,  1775 

Attends  Virginia  Assembly  October,  1776 

Elected  Governor  of  Virginia June  i,  1779 

Reflected  June  i,  1780 

Resigned June  i,  1781 

Elected  delegate  to  Congress November,  1781 

Mrs.  Jefferson  died September,  1782 

Elected  delegate  to  Congress June,  1783 

Minister  to  France  May,  1784    „ 

Appointed  Secretary  of  State September,  1789 

Leaves  France    October,  1789 

Resigns  as  Secretary  of  State December,  1793 

Elected  Vice-President November,  1796 

Nominated  for  President May,  1800 

Elected  President February  17,  1801 

Inaugurated  March  4,  1801 

Louisiana  Treaty  signed May  2,  1803 

Louisiana  Treaty  ratified October  20,  1803 

Reflected  President November,  1804 

Retires  from  Presidency March  4,  1809 

University  of  Virginia  established 1818 

Writes  last  letter June  25,  1826 

Died July    4,1826 


The  True 
Thomas  Jefferson 


JEFFERSON'S  FAMILY 


JEFFERSON  came  honestly  by  his  red  jiair.  his 
tenacity  of  purpose^  which  in  lesser  men  is  some 
times  called  stubbornness,  and  his_love  of __con- 
troversy.  His  father,  Peter  Jefferson,  was  a 
Welshman,  whose  family  is  said  to  have  come 
to  the  colonies  at  an  early  date  from  the  foot  of 
Snowden,  the  highest  mountain  in  Great  Britain. 
He  knew  nothing  of  them,  although  he  sometimes 
boasted  that  the  first  of  the  name  in  Virginia  was 
a  member  of  the  Assembly  of  1619,  the  first  legis 
lative  body  that  ever  convened  on  the  western 
continent;  but  he  was  never  able  to  prove  rela 
tionship.  His  mother  was  of  a  good  Scotch  fam 
ily  of  wealth  and  influence.  Her  name  was  Jane, 
and  her  father  was  Isham  Randolph,  one  of  the 
richest  tobacco  lords  in  Virginia.  Peter  Jefferson 
was  a  surveyor,  like  Washington,  and  both  at 
tained  social  position  through  marriage.  Thomas 
Jefferson  used  to  sneer  at  the  long  pedigree  of  his 
mother's  family  and  to  boast  that  his  father  came 
from  the  soil,  but,  nevertheless,  in  1771  he  wrote 
to  Thomas  Adams,  his  agent  in  London,  "  to  search 
the  herald's  office  for  the  arms  of  my  family.  I 
have  what  I  am  told  are  the  family  arms,  but 
•  17 


THE    TRUE    THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

on  what  authority  I  know  not.  It  is  possible  there 
may  be  none.  If  so,  I  would,  with  your  assistance 
become  a  purchaser,  having  Sterne's  word  for  it 
that  a  coat  of  arms  may  be  purchased  as  cheap  as 
any  other  coat." 

The  result  of  that  inquiry  is  not  alluded  to  in 
his  writings  or  records,  but  appears  frequently  at 
Monticello,  even  upon  the  fence  that  encloses  his 
tomb.  According  to  Colonel  B.  Lewis  Blackford, 
of  Washington,  an  authority  on  Virginian  her 
aldry,  the  Jefferson  coat-of-arms  is  a  shield,  bear 
ing  upon  the  "  chief"  or  upper  third  three  leopards' 
faces  in  silver  upon  a  ground  of  red,  or  "  gu," 
as  the  heralds  write  it.  The  lower  part  of  the  shield 
is  blue  fretted  with  gold.  This  combination  is 
unusual  and  appears  in  only  one  other  heraldic 
achievement, — that  of  the  Earl  of  Spencer.  The 
crest  is  the  head  of  a  talbot,  or  mastiff,  "  erased" 
or  broken  off  roughly,  leaving  the  base  with  an 
uneven  line.  The  head  is  "  eared"  and  "  langed 
gu,"  which  in  heraldry  means  that  the  ears,  mouth, 
and  tongue  are  red. 

The  motto  is  "  Ab  eo  Liber  fas  a  quo  Spiritus" 

Jefferson  used  an  engraved  seal  in  his  private 
correspondence  which  bore  a  monogram  of  the  ini 
tials  of  his  name,  "  T.  J.,"  surrounded  by  the 
motto  in  English,  "  Rebellion  to  Tyrants  is  Obe 
dience  to  God." 

Since  his  death  President  Jefferson's  descend 
ants  have  traced  the  family  line  with  great  satis 
faction.  The  first  Jefferson  mentioned  in  the 
histories  of  Virginia  bore  the  name  of  John,  and 
is  said  to  have  been  one  of  a  commission  of  three 
sent  over  from  England  to  look  into  the  affairs 
of  the  colony.  He  arrived  in  1619  in  the  ship 
Bonahora.  He  was  made  a  burgess  the  same  year. 
In  1626  he  secured  a  patent  for  two  hundred  and 

18 


^ 


JEFFERSON'S  SEAL 


JEFFERSON'S  COAT-OK-ARMS 


JEFFERSON'S    FAMILY 

fifty  acres  of  land  at  Archer's  Hope,  and  was  in 
Farolay's  Council  at  Jamestown,  representing 
Flower  de  Hundred.  His  son,  Thomas  Jefferson, 
of  Henrico,  married  Mary  Branch,  and  died  in 
1697.  Their  son,  Captain  Thomas  Jefferson,  of 
Osborne,  Henrico  County  (born  1679,  died  1715), 
married  Mary  Field  in  1698.  Their  son,  Peter 
Jefferson,  was  the  father  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  of 
Monticello. 

The  following  memoranda  were  written  by 
Thomas  Jefferson  in  a  Prayer-Book  that  belonged 
to  Peter  Jefferson : 


"  Births,  marriages  and  deaths  of  Peter  and  Jane  Jefferson 
and  their  children : 

BIRTHS.  MARRIAGES  DEATHS. 


Peter  Jefferson. 
Jane  Randolph 
Jane  Jefferson  . , 
Mary  "    . 

Thomas        "    . 

Elizabeth      "  . 

Martha          "  . 

Peter  Field  "  . 

A  son , 

Lucy             "  ., 

Randolph     "  . 

Anna  Scott  "  . 


1707/8,  Feb.  zgth. 
1720,  Feb.  gth. 

1740,  June  27th. 

1741,  Oct.  i  st. 

1743,  Apr.  2nd. 

1744,  Nov.  4th. 
1746,  May  2gth. 
1748,  Oct.  i6th. 
1750,  Mar.  gth. 
1752,  Oct.  loth. 

1755,  Oct.  ist. 


1739 


1760,  Jan.  24. 
1772,  Jan.  ist. 


1765,  July  20. 


1769,  Sept.  12. 
1788,  Oct. 


1759,  Aug.  17. 
1776,  Mar.  31. 
1765,  Oct.  i. 

1826,  July  4. 
at  12.50  P.M. 
1773,  Jan.  i. 

1748,  Nov.  29. 
1750,  Mar.  9. 


1828,  July  8." 


"  Births  and  deaths  of  John  and  Martha  Wayles,  father 
and  mother  of  Martha  Jefferson  wife  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 

"  Martha  Eppes,  born  Apr.  loth,  1712,  at  Bermuda  Hun 
dred;  intermarried  Oct.  28th,  1742  with  Lewellyn  Epes — He 
died  Sept.  nth,  1743. 

"John  Wayles,  born  at  Lancaster,  England,  Jan.  3ist, 
1715 — intermarried  with  Martha  Eppes,  May  3rd,  1746 — 
Died  May  28th,  1773. 

"  Their  daughter  Martha  Wayles,  born  Oct.  3ist,  1748 — 
The  mother  died  Nov.  5th,  1748. 

"  Martha  Wayles  married  Bathurst  Skelton,  Nov.  2oth, 
1766,— he  died  Sept.  30th,  1768.  Their  child,  John  Skelton, 
born  1767,  Nov.  7th,  died  June  loth,  1771.  Thomas  Jeffer 
son  and  Martha  Wayles  intermarried  Jan.  ist,  1772." 

19 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

The  deaths  must  have  been  added  by  "  J.  H.  R.," 
his  granddaughter,  as  Jefferson  could  not  have 
entered  his  own  death  or  that  of  Anna  Scott  in 
1828. 

Isham  Randolph  was  a  man  of  affairs  and  con 
siderable  eminence  in  the  Virginia  colony,  and  his 
name  was  associated  with  much  that  is  good  and 
wise.  He  was  a  student  of  natural  history  in  a 
small  way  and  from  him  Jefferson  inherited  his 
love  of  plants  and  flowers.  We  get  a  miniature 
portrait  of  him  in  a  quaint  letter  written  by  Peter 
Collinson,  of  London,  to  Bertrand,  the  botanist, 
who  was  about  to  visit  Virginia  to  study  the 
flora: 

"  When  thee  proceeds  home,  I  know  no  person 
who  will  make  thee  more  welcome  than  Isham 
Randolph.  One  thing  I  must  desire  of  thee,  and 
do  insist  that  thee  must  oblige  me  therein;  that 
thou  make  up  that  drugget  clothes,  to  go  to 
Virginia  in,  and  not  appear  to  disgrace  thyself 
or  me;  for  though  I  would  not  esteem  thee  the 
less  to  come  to  me  in  what  dress  thou  wilt,  yet 
these  Virginians  are  a  very  gentle,  well  dressed 
people,  and  look,  perhaps  more  at  a  man's  outside 
than  his  inside.  For  these  and  other  reasons,  pray 
go  very  clean,  neat,  and  handsomely  dressed  to 
Virginia." 

Peter  Jefferson  was  twenty-eight  and  Jane  Ran 
dolph  was  seventeen  years  of  age  when  she  prom 
ised  to  marry  him,  and,  with  her  love  and  promise, 
he  rode  a  hundred  miles  into  the  wilderness  and 
bought  a  thousand  acres  of  land  on  the  banks  of 
a  stream  then  known  as  the  River  Anna.  The 
name  has  since  been  shortened  to  Rivanna  in  local 
parlance.  For  two  years  he  worked  in  the  forest, 
cleared  a  few  fields,  built  a  cabin,  and,  when  it 
was  prepared  to  receive  her,  in  1738,  he  returned 

90 


JEFFERSON'S   FAMILY 

to  Dungeness,  her  father's  estate,  for  his  bride. 
Five  years  later — April  13,  1743 — their  third  child 
was  born,  and  they  called  him  Thomas. 

As  he  could  find  no  site  upon  his  own  farm 
suitable  for  a  permanent  residence,  Peter  Jefferson 
persuaded  his  most  intimate  friend,  William  Ran 
dolph,  who  owned  twenty-four  hundred  acres  ad 
joining,  to  give  him  a  sightly  spot  on  the  banks 
of  the  Rivanna,  and  the  deed,  still  in  possession 
of  the  family,  shows  that  the  price  of  the  property 
was  "  Henry  Weatherbourne's  biggest  bowl  of 
arrack  punch."  By  the  intermarriage  of  their 
grandchildren  the  farms  of  Peter  Jefferson  and 
William  Randolph  ultimately  became  the  property 
of  Thomas  Jefferson's  daughter. 

According  to  the  fashion  of  the  time,  Peter  Jef 
ferson  called  his  estate  "  Shadwell"  as  a  compli 
ment  to  his  wife,  for  that  was  the  name  of  the 
London  parish  in  which  she  was  born.  William 
Randolph  called  his  "  Edgehill"  in  memory  of  the 
battle  between  the  Cavaliers  and  Roundheads. 

Peter  Jefferson  was  famous  for  his  great  stature 
and  physical  strength.  It  is  said  that  he  could 
lift  two  hogsheads  of  tobacco — one  with  either 
arm, — and  stories  of  his  endurance  are  still  told 
about  the  Virginia  firesides.  He  had  an  inclination 
to  literature,  although,  judged  by  the  present  stand 
ard,  he  was  an  uneducated  man.  Several  volumes 
of  Swift,  the  sermons  of  Dr.  Doddridge,  a  full 
set  of  The  Spectator,  and  a  fine  edition  of  Shake 
speare  constituted  his  library,  and  the  books,  which 
are  still  preserved,  show  much  usage.  When  his 
son  was  six  years  old  Peter  Jefferson  was  appointed 
a  commissioner  to  survey  the  boundary  line  be 
tween  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  and  two  years 
later,  in  connection  with  Joshua  Fry,  professor  of 
mathematics  in  William  and  Mary  College,  he 

21 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

made  the  first  map  of  Virginia,  excepting  the  rough 
sketch  by  Captain  John  Smith  of  1609.  He  was 
a  good  manager,  exact  and  conscientious  in  all 
of  his  transactions,  and  grew  in  wealth  and  repu 
tation  until  he  became  the  most  influential  man  in 
the  community  and  master  of  the  largest  estate. 
He  was  a  vestryman  of  his  parish,  a  strict  adherent 
to  the  creed  and  ritual  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  regarded  the  works  of  Dr.  Doddridge  as 
"  more  precious  than  gold ;  the  best  legacy  I  can 
leave  my  children."  Dying  in  1757,  when  he  was 
but  fifty  years  old  and  his  son  Thomas  was  four 
teen,  he  left  instructions  for  the  latter's  education, 
and  especially  enjoined  upon  the  widow  not  to 
permit  him  to  neglect  "  the  exercise  requisite  for 
his  bodie's  developement."  This  strong  man  knew 
the  value  of  strength,  and  used  to  say  that  a  person 
of  weak  body  could  not  have  an  independent  mind. 
Jefferson's  father-had  a  great  influencejover  him. 
Of  his  mother  we  know  very  little.  He~"spoke  of 
his  father  frequently  during  his  long  life,  always 
with  pride  and  veneration,  but  does  not  seem  to 
have  had  equal  confidence  in  his  mother,  for  in 
one  of  his  letters  he  says,  "  At  fourteen  years  of 
age  the  whole  care  and  direction  of  myself  was 
thrown  on  myself  entirely,  withput  a  relative  or 
friend  qualified  to  advise  or  guide  me."  His 
mother's  name  appears  but  seldom  in  his  volumi 
nous  writings.  He  never  refers  to  her  in  his 
letters  to  his  children,  nor  quotes  her  as  he  quotes 
his  father;  and  one  of  the  few  references  to  her 
is  found  in  his  little  pocket  account-book,  while 
he  was  at  Philadelphia  as  a  member  of  the  first 
Congress : 


"March  31,   1776.     My  mother  died  about  eight  o'clock 
this  morning  in  the  57th  year  of  her  age." 

22 


JEFFERSON'S   FAMILY 

His  sister  Jane,  the  eldest  and  the  pride  of  the 
family,  he  refers  to  frequently  with  respect  and 
affection.  Her  mind  seems  to  have  been  sympa 
thetic  and  her  tastes  similar  to  his,  and  she  un 
doubtedly  had  a  marked  influence  upon  the  for 
mation  of  his  character.  She  was  his  confidante 
and  companion,  and  used  to  play  accompaniments 
upon  the  harpsichord  to  his  violin.  He  tells  us 
that  "  Jane  greatly  excelled  in  singing  the  few 
fine  old  Psalm  tunes  which  then  constituted  the 
musical  repertoire  of  the  Protestant  world."  It 
has  been  said  that  only  five  tunes  were  sung,  in 
the  churches  of  Virginia  for  a  century.  Jane  died 
in  1765,  while  Jefferson  was  studying  law  at  Wil- 
liamsburg,  and  her  death  was  a  keen  blow  to  him. 
The  tenderness  with  which  he  cherished  her  mem 
ory  to  the  last  days  of  his  long  and  eventful  career 
shows  what  a  deep  impression  she  made  upon  his 
youthful  mind.  Among  his  manuscripts  after  his 
death  was  found  this  Latin  inscription,  evidently 
intended  for  her  epitaph  : 

"Ah,  Joanna  puellarum  optima 
Ah  asvi  virentis  flore  praerepta 

Sit  tibi  terra  Isevis 
Longe,  longeque  valeto." 

When  Jefferson  became  of  age,  in  April,  1764, 
he  was  the  richest,  the  most  highly  educated,  and 
in  every  respect  the  most  conspicuous  young  man 
in  Albemarle  County.  In  accordance  with  a  ven 
erable  custom  he  celebrated  the  event  by  planting 
an  avenue  of  trees  in  front  of  his  mother's  house, 
and  several  of  them,  locusts  and  sycamores,  are 
still  standing  after  an  interval  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-six  years.  He  immediately  recognized  and 
assumed  the  responsibilities  of  his  position,  and 
within  a  few  months  was  elected  to  two  of  his 

23 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

father's  offices,  which  seem  to  have  been  hereditary, 
— justice  of  the  peace  and  vestryman  of  the  par 
ish.  One  of  his  contemporaries  tells  us  that!  he 
was  a  fresh,  bright,  healthy-looking  youth,  with 
large  feet  and  hands,  red  hair,  freckled  skin  so 
tender  that  it  blistered  and  peeled  off  after  ex 
posure  to  the  wind  or  sun,  hazel-gray  eyes,  promi 
nent  cheek-bones,  and  a  heavy  chin.  His  form 
"  was  as  straight  as  a  gun-barrel,  sinewy  and 
alert/'  and  he  cultivated  his  strength  "  by  famil 
iarity  with  saddle,  gun,  canoe,  and  minuet.J  He 
Dearly  showed  an  aversion  to  parade  and  ceremony, 
was  scrupulously  exact  in  matters  of  business, 
"  preferred  to  wait  upon  himself  rather  than  to 
receive  the  attentions  of  servants,"  showed  perfect 
self-reliance,  and  had  a  strong  taste  for  mathe 
matics  and  mechanics.  We  are  told  that  he  was 
an  inquisitive  youth,  and  that  when  he  discovered 
a  neighbor  or  a  stranger  doing  something  he  did 
not  understand,  he  asked  questions  and  observed 
the  proceedings  until  his  curiosity  was  fully  grati 
fied,  and  then  usually  made  notes  of  his  observa 
tions  in  a  memorandum-book.  His  inquisitiveness 
was  proverbial  in  the  neighborhood,  and  a  woman 
writing  from  Williamsburg  in  1769  remarked  that 
she  "  never  knew  anyone  to  ask  so  many  questions 
I  as  Thomas  Jefferson."  He  writes  of  himself  that 
;the  passions  of  his  soul  were  music,  mathematics, 
and  architecture,  and  the  traditions  of  his  violin 
playing  are  numerous  and  amusing.  When  chil 
dren  we  read  in  the  school-books  the  anecdote  of 
the  old  negro  slave  who  notified  him  that  his 
mother's  house  had  been  destroyed,  but  his  fiddle 
had  been  saved.  We  know  that  he  used  to  play 
violin  duets  with  Patrick  Henry,  with  his  sister 
Jane,  and  with  the  pretty  Widow  Skelton,  who 
afterwards  became  his*wife.  His  biographers  as- 

24 

V- 


JEFFERSON'S    FAMILY 

sure  us  that  he  was  a  fine  performer  upon  the  king 
of  musical  instruments,  but  grandmothers  in  Vir 
ginia,  who  heard  the  truth  from  the  preceding 
generation,  tell  us  the  contrary,  and  quote  an  early 
authority  as  saying  that  Patrick  Henry  was  the 
worst  fiddler  in  the  colony  with  the  exception  of 
Thomas  Jefferson. 

The  first  John  Tyler,  who  was  Governor  of 
Virginia  and  father  of  President  Tyler,  was  at 
one  time  a  room-mate  of  Patrick  Henry,  and  a 
tradition  of  the  family  is  that  Jefferson  used  to 
bring  his  violin  and  play  with  them;  and  in  ad 
miration  of  Mr.  Tyler's  fiddling  he  exclaimed  one 
day, — 

"  Oh,  John,  if  I  only  had  your  bow  arm !" 
John  Randolph  (not  he  of  Roanoke,  but  the  son 
of  Sir  John,  the  king's  attorney-general)  had  a 
precious  violin  which  he  had  bought  in  Italy.  It 
was  the  one  thing  in  all  the  world  that  Jefferson 
coveted  most,  and  he  did  not  relax  his  persistence 
until  he  had  persuaded  the  owner  to  draw  up  an 
agreement  in  legal  form,  signed,  sealed,  and  wit 
nessed  by  George  Wythe,  Patrick  Henry,  and  five 
others,  and  duly  recorded  in  the  general  court  at 
Williamsburg  to  this  effect : 

"  It  is  agreed  between  John  Randolph  and  Thomas  Jef 
ferson,  that  in  case  the  said  John  shall  survive  the  said 
Thomas,  the  executors  of  the  said  Thomas  shall  deliver 
to  the  said  John  the  value  of  Eighty  Pounds  Sterling  of 
the  books  of  the  said  Thomas,  the  same  to  be  chosen  by  the 
said  John,  and  in  case  the  said  Thomas  shall  survive  the 
said  John,  the  executors  of  the  said  John  shall  deliver  to  the 
said  Thomas  the  violin  which  the  said  John  brought  with 
him  into  Virginia,  together  with  all  his  music  composed  for 
the  violin." 

To  everybody  but  Jefferson  this  unique  contract 
was  a  joke,  but  he  was  so  lacking  in  the  sense  of 
humor  and  so  earnest  in  his  desire  to  possess  the 

25 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

instrument  that  he  toolkit  seriously,  and  added 
a  codicil  to  his  will,  which,  with  characteristic 
exactness,  he  had  written  as  soon  as  he  became 
of  age,  providing  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  com 
pact  by  his  executors,  and  bequeathing  a  hundred 
pounds  to  "  the  said  John  as  evidence  of  my  re 
spect  and  affection." 

But  Jefferson  was  not  compelled  to  wait  so  long 
as  he  expected.  When  the  revolutionary  spirit 
became  violent  John  Randolph,  who  held  an  office 
under  the  king  and  had  made  himself  offensive 
to  the  colonists  in  the  performance  of  his  duties 
as  attorney-general,  found  it  to  his  comfort  and 
advantage  to  return  to  England.  Before  going 
he  sold  the  violin  to  Jefferson  for  thirteen  pounds, 
in  August,  1775.  From  that  day  Jefferson  car 
ried  the  instrument  with  him  wherever  he  went, 
practised  upon  it  in  Philadelphia  while  he  was 
attending  his  duties  as  a  member  of  Congress  and 
Secretary,  of  State,  took  it  to  France  when  he 
went  as  minister,  and  occasionally  played  an  old- 
fashioned  air  upon  it  while  he  was  President. 

He  never  lost  his  love  for  music.  He  had  an 
opportunity  to  cultivate  his  taste  while  in  Europe, 
and  enjoyed  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the  great 
musicians  of  that  period.  After  his  retirement  in 
1809  he  wrote  one  of  them :  "  If  there  is  a  grati 
fication  which  I  envy  any  people  in  this  world, 
it  is  to  your  country  (France)  for  its  music.  This 
is  the  favorite  passion  of  my  soul,  and  fortune  has 
cast  my  lot  in  a  country  where  it  is  in  a  state  of 
deplorable  barbarism." 

Notwithstanding  his  serious  disposition,  Jeffer 
son  was  fond  of  gossip,  the  man  as  well  as  the  boy. 
He  kept  up  a  voluminous  correspondence  to  the  end 
of  his  days  with  friends  in  Paris,  and,  although 
he  did  not  see  some  of  them  for  forty  years,  re- 

26 


JEFFERSON'S   FAMILY 

tained  his  interest  in  their  affairs  and  showed  an 
affectionate  solicitude  for  their  welfare.  And  he 
was  sometimes  pleased  to  be  gay.  He  paid  com 
pliments  with  the  skill  of  a  courtier,  but  there  are 
only  two  glimpses  of  humor  in  all  his  correspond 
ence.  One  of  them  is  an  anecdote  of  Arthur 
Lee,  who,  he  says,  was  a  most  "  disputatious" 
man  and  "  always  contradicted  everybody."  Once 
when  a  gentleman  observed  in  his  hearing  that  it 
was  a  very  cloudy  day,  Lee  retorted,  "  It  is  cloudy, 
sir;  but  not  very  cloudy." 

\While  he  was  minister  to  France  a  lady  in  the 
United  States  had  the  courage  to  commission  Jef 
ferson  to  buy  her  a  pair  of  corsets,  but  failed  to 
send  the  dimensions^  He  exercised  his  best  judg 
ment  and  sent  them  with  a  playful  letter :  "  Should 
they  be  too  small,"  he  says,  "  you  will  be  good 
enough  to  lay  them  by  a  while.  There  are  ebbs 
as  well  as  flows  in  this  world.  When  the  moun 
tain  refused  to  come  to  Mahomet,  he  went  to  the 
mountain." 

Even  while  President,  overwhelmed  with  the 
cares  and  perplexities  of  his  office,  he  gossiped 
continually  through  the  mails  with  his  daughters 
in  Virginia,  giving  and  receiving  items  of  per 
sonal  interest  concerning  the  people  he  met  and 
the  friends  they  knew,  and  he  was  as  eager  as  a 
school-girl  to  receive  a  budget  of  news  from  home. 

"  If  there  is  any  news  stirring  in  town  or 
county,"  he  wrote,  "  let  me  know  it."  And  again 
he  begged  of  his  daughter  to  "  write  me  all  the 
small  news,  who  marry  and  who  hang  themselves 
because  they  cannot  marry."  His  letters  to  his 
children  and  grandchildren  are  full  of  admonition, 
but  bubble  over  with  love  and  treat  of  the  lightest 
and  most  trivial  domestic  topics.  One  wonders 
how  a  man  of  Jefferson's  serious  nature  and  over- 

27 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

whelming  cares  could  find  time  to  discuss  with 
a  child  the  dates  upon  which  the  first  arbutus  is 
found  in  the  spring  upon  the  hill-side,  the  first 
appearance  of  the  hyacinth,  and  the  number  of 
buds  upon  a  favorite  rose-bush.  Between  those 
lines  are  serious  references  to  political  affairs,  com 
ments  upon  events  in  Europe  and  America,  newly 
discovered  interests,  and  the  progress  of  science. 
Listen  to  his  gossip  with  his  daughter  even  while 
he  was  President :  "  A  person  here  has  invented 
the  prettiest  improvement  in  the  forte-piano  I  have 
ever  seen.  It  has  tempted  me  to  engage  one  for 
Monticello;  partly  for  its  excellence  and  conveni 
ence,  partly  to  assist  a  very  ingenious,  modest  and 
poor  young  man.  There  is  really  no  business  which 
ought  to  keep  us  one  fortnight.  I  am  therefore 
looking  forward  with  anticipation  of  joy  of  seeing 
you  again  ere  long.  Politics  are  such  a  torment 
that  I  would  advise  every  one  I  love  not  to  mix 
with  them.  Kiss  all  the  dear  little  ones  for  me. 
Do  not  let  Ellen  forget  me." 

The  great  statesman  was  not  above  the  art  of 
playing  upon  the  credulity  of  his  grandchildren. 
He  wrote  one  of  them  that  if  she  injured  a  mock 
ing-bird  or  its  nest  she  would  always  be  haunted 
by  its  ghost.  He  told  another  to  take  good  care 
of  her  silkworms,  because  she  could  never  get  mar 
ried  until  they  had  spun  enough  silk  for  her 
wedding-gown.  While  President  of  the  United 
States  he  writes  his  daughter :  "  I  sincerely  con 
gratulate  you  upon  the  arrival  of  the  mocking-bird. 
Learn  all  the  children  to  venerate  it  as  a  superior 
being  in  the  form  of  a  bird,  or  as  a  being  which 
will  haunt  them  if  any  harm  is  done  to  itsdf  or 
its  eggs.  We  had  peaches  and  Indian  corn  the 
1 2th  instant.  When  did  they  begin  with  you?  ' 

Jefferson  was  an  ardent  and  sentimental  lover, 
28 


JEFFERSON'S   FAMILY 

and  his  egotism  appears  in  his  love-affairs  in  a 
most  amusing  way.  He  adored  several  young 
women  from  time  to  time;  such  behavior  is  not 
uncommon  among  men  of  his  youth;  and  to  one 
of  them, — Belinda, — when  about  twenty,  he  con 
fessed  his  love,  but  explained  that  he  could  not  posi 
tively  engage  himself  to  marry  anyone  for  the  pres 
ent  because  it  would  interfere  with  his  studies  and 
his  plans  for  a  trip  to  Europe;  he  intimated  that 
it  might  be  profitable  for  her  to  await  his  pleasure 
and  convenience,  as  he  expected  sooner  or  later 
to  renew  his  suit  openly.  We  do  not  know  what 
Belinda  said  in  reply  to  this  extraordinary  propo 
sition,  but  she  evidently  did  not  estimate  the  value 
of  his  affections  so  highly,  for  she  promptly  mar 
ried  another.  Sometimes  he  refers  to  her  in  his 
diaries  and  letters  as  Bee-lin-day,  or  as  "  Campana- 
in-die"  (bell  in  day)  ;  then  he  writes  her  name 
in  Greek,  and  often  spells  it  backward, — Adnileb. 
He  took  her  marriage  rather  hard.  "  Last  night," 
he  writes  one  of  his  confidants,  "  as  merry,  as 
agreeable  a  company  and  dancing  with  Belinda  in 
the  Appollo  could  make  me,  I  never  thought  the 
succeeding  sun  would  have  seen  me  so  wretched 
as  I  am." 

He  was  soon  consoled  by  the  attractions  of  a 
young  woman  named  Rebecca  Burwell, — some 
think  that  she  and  Belinda  are  the  same  person. 
He  writes  to  John  Page,  one  of  his  classmates, 
saying :  "  Write  me  everything  that  happened  at 
the  wedding.  Was  she  (Rebecca  Burwell)  there? 
because  if  she  was  I  ought  to  be  at  the  devil  for 
not  being  there  too.  If  there  is  any  news  stirring 
in  the  town  or  country  such  as  deaths,  courtships 
or  marriages  in  the  circle  of  my  acquaintance  let 
me  know  it." 

Again  he  writes :  "  What  have  you  done  since 
29 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

I  saw  you?  What  can  I  do  but  ask  you  the  news 
of  the  world?  How  did  Nancy  look  when  you 
danced  with  her  at  Southall's?  Have  you  any 
glimmering  of  hope?  How  does  R.  B.  (Rebecca 
Burwell)  do?  Had  I  better  stay  here  and  do 
nothing  or  go  down  and  do  less  ?  Inclination  tells 
me  to  go,  receive  my  sentence  and  be  no  longer 
in  suspense,  but  reason  says  if  you  go,  and  if  your 
attempt  proves  unsuccessful  you  will  be  ten  times 
more  wretched  than  before;"  and  to  another 
friend : 

"  Dear  Will,  I  have  thought  of  the  cleverest 
plan  of  life  that  can  be  imagined.  You  exchange 
your  land  for  Edgehill  and  I  mine  for  Fairfields. 
You  marry  S.  P.  and  I  marry  R.  B.,  join  and  get 
a  pole  chair,  and  a  keen  pair  of  horses,  practice 
law  in  the  same  court  and  drive  about  to  all  the 
dames  in  the  country  together.  How  do  you  like 
it?" 

He  built  a  "  full-rigged  flat,"  as  he  termed  it, 
on  the  river,  and  named  it  "  The  Rebecca,"  but 
she  jilted  him  before  it  was  launched,  and  there 
is  no  further  reference  to  the  enterprise.  Rebecca 
Burwell  married  Jacquelin  Ambler,  who  afterwards 
became  State  treasurer  and  was  called  "  The  Aris- 
tides  of  Virginia,"  because  he  was  just ;  and  John 
Marshall,  Chief-Justice  of  the  United  States,  mar 
ried  their  daughter.  It  is  a  curious  coincidence 
that  his  brother,  Edward  Ambler,  married  Miss 
Gary,  who  rejected  Washington. 

It  came  within  the  power  of  Jefferson  to  do 
friendly  service  for  the  husband  of  his  former 
sweetheart  on  several  occasions,  and  when  her 
father,  who  at  the  time  of  her  marriage  was  one 
of  the  richest  and  proudest  men  in  Virginia,  be 
came  impoverished  in  his  old  age,  it  is  said  that 
Jefferson  secured  for  him  an  appointment  as  tip 
staff  in  one  of  the  courts. 
30 


JEFFERSON'S   FAMILY 

There  were  others  also.  Patsy  Dandridge,  Betsy 
Page,  and  two  or  three  other  young  ladies  are 
frequently  referred  to  in  his  youthful  correspond 
ence  as  objects  of  admiration,  but  there  is  no  evi 
dence  that  they  were  more  than  friends.  Miss 
Molly  Elliott  Seawell  says  that  a  fly-leaf  of  an 
old  book  in  the  library  of  the  late  Boswell  Seawell, 
of  Gloucester  County,  Virginia,  contains  the  fol 
lowing  inscription  said  to  be  in  the  handwriting 
of  Jefferson : 

"Jane  Nelson  is  a  neat  girl 
Betsy  Page  is  a  sweet  girl 
Rebecca  Burwell  is  the  devil. 
If  not  the  devil,  she's  one  of  his  imps." 

Among  Jefferson's  associates  at  the  Williams- 
burg  bar  was  John  Wayles,  a  lawyer  of  large  prac 
tice  who  had  a  fine  estate  on  the  edge  of  the  town 
called  "  The  Forest,"  a  dozen  plantations,  large 
tracts  of  wild  land  in  various  parts  of  the  colony, 
and  over  four  hundred  slaves.  His  widowed 
daughter,  Martha  Skelton,  a  famous  beauty  fond 
of  admiration  and  music,  lived  with  him,  and  Jef 
ferson  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  his  violin  out 
to  "  The  Forest"  of  an  evening  to  play  duets  with 
her.  Their  acquaintance  extended  over  three  or 
four  years.  She  was  a  widow  in  1768.  He  first 
mentions  his  love  for  her  in  1770,  and  they  were 
married  on  New  Year's  Day,  1772.  He  left  a 
number  of  letters  concerning  his  courtship  of 
the  pretty  widow  with  the  pretty  fortune  which 
indicate  that  he  was  scarcely  off  with  an  old  love 
before  he  was  on  with  the  new,  and  had  consider 
able  vexation  in  adjusting  his  conduct  to  the 
satisfaction  of  his  own  conscience.  The  story  goes' 
that  he  was  spurred  into  an  engagement  with  Mar 
tha  Skelton  by  the  rivalry  of  two  friends,  with 

3' 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

whom  he  came  to  an  understanding  that  they 
should  draw  cuts  for  the  first  proposal.  If  the  first 
were  rejected,  he  was  to  retire  and  give  the  next 
a  chance,  and  if  number  two  were  not  accepted, 
the  third  was  at  liberty  to  propose.  Jefferson  drew 
number  one  and  started  for  the  Wayles  plantation. 
His  rivals  followed  him  and  hung  over  the  hedge, 
listening  to  the  music  as  he  played  duets  with  his 
inamorata.  They  concluded  from  the  joyful  tones 
of  his  instrument  that  his  wooing  was  successful 
and  walked  home  disconsolate. 

The  license-bond  for  the  marriage  required  by 
the  laws  of  Virginia  was  written  in  Jefferson's  own 
hand,  and  is  signed  by  him  with  Francis  Eppes, 
a  neighbor,  whose  son  afterwards  married  Jeffer 
son's  daughter,  as  surety.  He  must  have  been  a 
little  nervous  or  absent-minded  at  the  time,  for 
he  described  his  bride  as  "  a  spinster."  Somebody 
corrected  the  mistake  by  running  a  pen  through 
"  spinster"  and  writing  the  word  "  widow"  over 
it;  but  Jefferson  was  not  so  agitated  that  he  neg 
lected  to  set  down  in  his  account-book  every  item 
of  expenditure  in  connection  with  his  wedding. 
We  find  that  he  "  loaned  Mrs.  Skelton  ten  shil 
lings"  two  days  before  the  ceremony;  paid  forty 
shillings  for  the  marriage-license ;  gave  five  pounds 
to  the  Reverend  Mr.  Coutts,  the  minister  who  mar 
ried  them;  and  then  borrowed  twenty  shillings 
from  the  parson  before  the  close  of  the  day.  He 
gave  ten  shillings  to  the  fiddler,  and  five  shillings 
to  each  of  the  servants  of  the  household. 

On  one  of  the  early  days  in  January  the  newly 
married  pair  started  in  a  two-horse  chaise  from 
'  The  Forest"  for  Monticello,  their  future  abode, 
more  than  a  hundred  miles  distant. 

^  The  mansion  was  half  built  when  Jefferson  took 
his  bride  home.     They  drove  from  Williamsburg, 

32 


UN 

CALir 


JEFFERSON'S   FAMILY 

a  distance  of  at  least  one  hundred  miles,  and  ar 
rived  in  the  midst  of  a  fearful  blizzard.  He  tells 
in  his  diary  that  the  snow  was  more  than  two  feet 
deep  in  the  road,  and  that  his  horse  had  a  des 
perate  struggle  to  haul  them  through.  They  spent 
their  first  night  in  a  little  brick  house  that  is  still 
standing,  attached  to  the  slave  quarters,  and  lived 
there  until  the  mansion  was  habitable. 

About  a  year  after  his  marriage  the  death  of 
his  father-in-law  brought  him  forty  thousand  acres 
of  land  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  slaves. 
The  Natural  Bridge,  eighty  miles  from  Monticello, 
was  included  in  the  property,  and  Jefferson,  who 
considered  it  one  of  the  greatest  wonders  in  the 
world,  planned  to  build  there  a  hermitage  to  which 
he  could  retire  in  seclusion  at  will  for  rest  and 
study.  He  speaks  of  his  wife's  father  in  these 
terms :  "  Mr.  Wayles  was  a  lawyer  of  much  prac 
tice  to  which  he  was  introduced  more  by  his  in 
dustry,  punctuality  and  practical  readiness,  than 
by  eminence  in  the  science  of  his  profession.  He 
was  a  most  agreeable  companion,  full  of  pleasantry 
and  humor,  and  welcomed  in  every  society.  He 
acquired  a  handsome  fortune,  and  died  in  May, 
1773,  leaving  three  daughters.  The  fortune  which 
came  on  that  event  to  Mrs.  Jefferson,  after  the 
debts  were  paid,  which  was  very  considerable,  was 
about  equal  to  my  own  patrimony,  and  consequently 
doubled  the  ease  of  our  circumstances." 

Although  everything  that  concerned  her  has  an 
interest,  we  know  very  little  about  Mrs.  Jefferson, 
except  that  she  was  a  jealous  woman,  because  on 
her  deathbed  she  exacted  from  her  husband  a  prom 
ise  that  he  would  never  remarry.  Edward  Bacon, 
the  manager  of  the  plantation,  tells  the  story  in 
these  words :  "  When  Mrs.  Jefferson  died,  Mr. 
Jefferson  sat  by  her,  and  she  gave  him  directions 
3  33 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

about  a  good  many  things  that  she  wanted  done. 
When  she  came  to  the  children  she  wept,  and  could 
not  speak  for  some  time.  Finally  she  held  up  her 
hand,  and  spreading  out  her  four  fingers  she  told 
him  that  she  could  not  die  happy  if  she  thought 
her  four  children  were  ever  to  have  a  step-mother 
brought  in  over  them.  Holding  her  other  hand  in 
his,  Mr.  Jefferson  promised  her  solemnly  that  he 
would  never  be  married  again.  And  he  never 
did." 

Visitors  to  Monticello  have  described  her  as 
"  a  beautiful  woman, — her  countenance  brilliant 
with  color  and  expression,  luxuriant  auburn  hair, 
somewhat  tall,  of  a  very  graceful  figure,  but  too 
delicate  for  the  wear  and  tear  of  this  troublesome 
world.  She  has  an  educated  mind  and  a  taste  for 
higher  literature.  Her  skill  in  playing  the  harpsi 
chord  and  her  voice  in  singing  are  said  to  be  re 
markable."  She  had  six  children,  all  of  them  girls. 
The  first  child,  Martha,  and  the  fourth,  Mary, 
alone  survived  infancy.  Years  after  her  death 
six  of  the  women-slaves  of  the  house  enjoyed 
an  honorable  distinction  at  Monticello  as  "  the 
servants  who  were  in  the  room  when  Mrs.  Jeffer 
son  died." 

Jefferson  declined  an  appointment  from  Con 
gress  as  commissioner  to  France  with  Dr.  Franklin 
and  Silas  Deane  in  October,  1776,  because  of  his 
wife's  health.  He  kept  the  messenger  waiting 
several  days  before  he  could  make  up  his  mind 
to  reject  a  mission  that  promised  so  much  honor, 
usefulness,  and  pleasure,  but  Mrs.  Jefferson  was 
too  ill  to  go  with  him,  and  his  anxiety  was  so  great 
that  he  would  not  leave  her. 

After  his  death  there  were  found  in  a  drawer 
in  his  room  among  other  souvenirs  three  little 
packages  containing  locks  of  the  hair  of  his  de- 

34 


JEFFERSON'S    FAMILY 

ceased  wife,  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Eppes,  and  an  in 
fant  child  he  had  lost.  In  his  own  handwriting 
the  latter  was  marked  "  A  lock  of  our  first  Lucy's 
hair  with  some  of  my  dear  wife's  writing,"  and 
it  contained  a  few  strands  of  silken  hair  evidently 
taken  from  the  head  of  a  very  young  infant.  An 
other,  marked  simply  "  Lucy,"  contained  a  beauti 
ful  golden  curl.  He  wrote  the  following  epitaph 
for  his  wife's  tomb : 

"  To  the  memory  of  Martha  Jefferson, 

Daughter  of  John  Wayles, 
Born  October  igth,  1748  O.  S. ; 

Intermarried  with  Thomas  Jefferson  January  ist,  1772; 
Torn  from  him  by  death  September  6th,  1782: 

"  If  in  the  melancholy  shades  below, 
The  flames  of  friends  and  lovers  cease  to  glow, 
Yet  mine  shall  sacred  last ;  mine  undecayed 
Burn  on  through  death  and  animate  my  shade." 

These  four  lines  appear  in  Greek  in  the  original. 

The  death  of  his  wife  was  a  shocking  blow  to 
Jefferson.  She  was  a  congenial  companion,  and 
not  only  sympathized  with  his  political  and  intel 
lectual  tastes,  but  possessed  sagacity  and  social 
attractions  which  furnished  a  powerful  reinforce 
ment  for  his  ability  and  skill.  It  was  many  years 
after  her  death  before  Monticello  recovered  its 
gayety,  but  when  his  daughters  grew  up  he  re 
turned  to  social  life,  and  according  to  the  gossips 
the  widower  was  the  hero  of  several  love-affairs, 
although  he  never  again  seriously  contemplated 
marriage.  At  one  time,  according  to  local  tradi 
tions,  he  was  challenged  to  fight  a  duel  concerning 
a  lady  in  the  neighborhood,  but  declined  to  do  so 
because  her  jealous  husband  was  of  inferior  social 
standing. 

Jefferson's  tenderness  and  solicitude  for  his  two 
little  motherless  girls  was  the  most  beautiful  trait 

35 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

of  his  character.  No  one  who  has  ever  loved  a 
child  can  read  his  correspondence  with  them  with 
out  emotion.  Every  sentence  reveals  the  depth 
of  his  affection,  and  his  anxiety  that  they  should 
be  good  and  wise  appears  in  every  letter.  "  Good 
ness,"  he  says,  "  is  the  greatest  treasure  of  human 
beings.  If  you  love  me  strive  to  be  good  under 
every  situation  and  to  all  living  creatures,  and  to 
acquire  those  accomplishments  which  I  have  put 
into  your  power."  '''  The  more  you  learn,  the  more 
I  love  you,"  he  said  at  another  time,  "  and  I  rest 
the  happiness  of  my  life  on  seeing  you  beloved 
by  all  the  world,  which  you  will  sure  to  be  if  to 
a  good  heart,  you  join  the  accomplishments  so 
pleasing  in  your  sex;"  and  it  was  a  little  unusual 
for  a  father  whose  mind  was  absorbed  in  such 
serious  thoughts  as  appear  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  to  write  to  a  little  girl  on  July  I, 
1776,  "  Remember  not  to  go  out  without  your 
bonnet,  because  it  will  make  you  very  ugly  and 
then  we  shall  not  love  you  so  much."  Again  he 
writes :  "  If  ever  you  are  about  to  say  anything 
amiss,  or  to  do  anything  wrong,  consider  before 
hand.  You  will  feel  something  within  you  which 
will  tell  you  it  is  wrong  and  ought  not  to  be  said 
or  done.  This  is  your  conscience  and  be  sure  and 
obey  it.  Our  Maker  has  given  us  all  this  faithful 
internal  monitor,  and  if  you  always  obey  it  you 
will  always  be  prepared  for  the  end  of  the  world, 
or  for  a  much  more  certain  event  which  is  death. 
This  must  happen  to  us  all.  It  puts  an  end  to  the 
world  as  to  us,  and  the  way  to  be  ready  for  it  is 
never  to  do  a  wrong  act." 

A  short  time  after  Mrs.  Jefferson's  death,  Con 
gress  for  the  third  time  appointed  him  an  envoy 
to  assist  Franklin  and  Adams  in  negotiating  peace, 
and  he  was  at  liberty  to  accept.  He  left  Mary,  or 

36 


JEFFERSON'S   FAMILY 

"  Polly,"  as  he  called  her,  his  youngest  child,  with 
her  aunt,  Mrs.  Eppes,  in  Virginia,  and  took  Mar 
tha,  then  in  her  eleventh  year,  to  the  school  of 
Mrs.  Hopkinson  in  Philadelphia,  where  she  re 
mained  until  she  sailed  with  him  to  Europe.  One 
of  his  letters  to  Martha,  or  "  Patsy,"  was  among 
the  most  precious  autographs  in  the  celebrated  col 
lection  of  Queen  Victoria,  and  was  frequently  shown 
by  her  to  Americans  who  were  entertained  at 
Windsor  Castle.  Aaron  Vail,  the  charge  d'affaires 
of  the  United  States  at  the  Court  of  St.  James, 
was  commanded  by  Queen  Victoria  to  procure 
for  her  an  autograph  of  the  great  American  states 
man.  He  transmitted  the  request  to  Mrs.  Ran 
dolph,  who  sent  the  Queen  of  England  the  follow 
ing  characteristic  letter  written  to  herself  in  1783 : 

"  MY  DEAR  PATSY  : — The  acquirements  which  I  hope  you 
will  make  under  the  tutors  I  have  provided  for  you  will 
render  you  more  worthy  of  my  love.  With  respect  to  the 
distribution  of  your  time,  the  following  is  what  I  should 
approve : 

'  From  8  to  10,  practice  music. 

'  From  10  to  I  dance  one  day  and  draw  another. 

'  From  i  to  2  draw  on  the  day  you  dance  and  write  a 
letter  next  day. 

'  From  3  to  4  read  French. 

'  From  4  to  5  exercise  yourself  in  music. 

'  From  5  till  bedtime  read  English,  write,  etc. 

'  I  expect  you  to  write  me  by  every  post.  Inform  me 
what  books  you  read,  what  tunes  you  learn  and  enclose  me 
your  best  copy  of  every  lesson  in  drawing.  Take  care  that 
you  never  spell  a  word  wrong.  Always  before  you  write  a 
word,  consider  how  it  is  spelt,  and  if  you  do  not  remember 
it,  turn  to  a  dictionary.  It  produces  great  praise  to  a  lady 
to  spell  well.  I  place  my  happiness  on  seeing  you  good 
and  accomplished." 

Jefferson  was  always  preaching  industry  to  his 
children.  "  Learn"  and  "  Labor"  were  his  con 
stant  admonitions.  He  says  :  "  It  is  your  future 
happiness  which  interests  me,  and  nothing  can 
contribute  more  to  it  (moral  rectitude  always  ex- 

37 


THE   TRUE    THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

cepted)  than  the  contracting  a  habit  of  industry 
and  activity.  Of  all  the  cankers  of  human  happi 
ness  none  corrodes  with  so  silent,  yet  so  baneful 
an  influence  as  indolence.  Body  and  mind,  both 
unemployed,  one  becomes  a  burthen,  and  every 
object  about  us  loathsome,  even  the  dearest.  Idle 
ness  begets  ennui,  ennui  the  hypochondriac,  and 
that  a  diseased  body.  No  laborious  person  was 
ever  yet  hysterical.  Exercise  and  application  pro 
duce  order  in  our  affairs,  health'of  body  and  cheer 
fulness  of  mind,  and  these  make  us  precious  to  our 
friends."  :<  Walking  is  the  best  possible  exercise," 
he  said.  "  Habituate  yourself  to  walking  very  far. 
There  is  no  habit  you  will  value  so  much  as  that 
of  walking." 

"  Patsy,"  afterwards  Mrs.  Randolph,  was  placed 
in  a  convent  near  Paris  to  be  educated.  Her  father 
visited  her  frequently,  and  continued  his  corre 
spondence,  writing  almost  every  day.  He  says  in 
one  of  his  letters :  "  If  at  any  moment,  my  dear, 
you  catch  yourself  in  idleness,  start  from  it  as  you 
would  from  the  precipice  of  a  gulf.  You  are  not 
however  to  consider  yourself  unemployed  while 
taking  exercise.  That  is  necessary  for  your  health, 
and  health  is  the  first  of  all  objects.  For  this  rea 
son,  if  you  leave  your  dancing  master  for  the  sum 
mer  you  must  increase  your  other  exercise.  No 
body  in  this  world  can  make  me  so  happy  or  so 
miserable  as  you.  Retirement  from  public  life 
will  ere  long  become  necessary  for  me.  To  your 
sister  and  yourself  I  look  to  render  the  evening 
of  my  life  serene  and  contented.  Its  morning  has 
been  crowded  by  loss  after  loss,  till  I  have  nothing 
left  but  you." 

When  he  became  convinced  that  his  stay  in  Paris 
was  likely  to  be  prolonged  he  sent  for  "  Polly," 
and  wrote  Mrs.  Eppes  the  most  exacting  and  de- 

38 


JEFFERSON'S   FAMILY 

tailed  instructions  as  to  the  preparations  and  ar 
rangements  for  her  voyage.  Among  other  curious 
ideas,  she  was  to  be  sent  upon  a  ship  that  had 
made  at  least  one  voyage,  but  was  not  more  than 
five  years  old.  "  I  think  it  would  be  found,"  he 
wrote,  "  that  all  the  vessels  which  are  lost  are 
either  lost  on  their  first  voyage  or  else  after  they 
are  five  years  old."  Mr.  Eppes  discovered  such  a 
vessel  as  Jefferson  wanted,  and  "  Polly,"  with  her 
colored  "  mammy,"  was  sent  in  care  of  the  cap 
tain  to  Mrs.  John  Adams,  who  was  then  in  Lon 
don  with  her  husband.  She  kept  the  child  for 
several  weeks  until  she  found  an  opportunity  and 
a  proper  escort  to  Paris  and  became  very  much 
attached  to  her,  describing  her  as  a  child  of  re 
markable  beauty,  vivacity,  and  intelligence.  In 
the  meantime  Jefferson  writes  to  Patsy,  the  oldest 
sister :  "  Our  dear  Polly  will  certainly  come  to 
us  this  summer.  She  will  become  a  precious  charge 
on  your  hands.  Teach  her  above  all  things  to  be 
good,  because  without  that  we  can  neither  be 
valued  by  others  nor  set  any  value  on  ourselves. 
Teach  her  always  to  be  true;  no  vice  is  so  mean 
as  the  want  of  truth;  and  at  the  same  time  so 
useless.  Teach  her  never  to  be  angry;  anger 
only  serves  to  torment  ourselves,  to  divert  others, 
and  alienate  their  esteem.  And  teach  her  industry 
and  application  to  useful  pursuits.  A  mind  always 
employed  is  always  happy.  This  is  the  true  secret, 
the  grand  recipe  for  felicity.  The  idle  are  the 
only  wretched." 

"  Patsy"  was  a  very  impressionable  child,  and 
became  so  alarmed  because  of  her  obligations  to 
a  sinful  world  that  she  decided  to  become  a  nun. 
Her  father  was  naturally  startled  when  he  received 
a  tearful  request  for  permission  to  take  the  veil, 
but  he  acted  with  great  tact.  He  did  not  reply 

39 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

to  the  note.  He  sent  for  her  to  come  to  the  lega 
tion  in  Paris,  where,  without  waiting  to  complete 
her  education,  he  immediately  introduced  her,  a 
girl  of  seventeen,  into  the  brilliant  scenes  of  the 
court  of  Louis  XVI. ,  where  she  soon  forgot  her 
pious  plans.  Years  afterwards  Mrs.  Randolph 
told  this  incident  to  her  children,  and  said  that 
no  allusion  to  the  subject  \vas  ever  made  either  by 
her  father  or  herself. 

Martha  Jefferson  was  a  very  accomplished 
woman,  speaking  several  languages,  being  a  fine 
musician,  and  having  a  highly  cultivated  mind. 
Few  American  women  at  that  day  enjoyed  her 
educational  advantages.  John  Randolph  of  Roan- 
oke,  that  irrepressible  enthusiast,  who  was  no  re 
lation  to  her  husband,  once  toasted  her  as  "  the 
noblest  woman  in  Virginia."  Neither  she  nor  her 
sister  attended  Jefferson  when  he  went  to  Wash 
ington  to  become  President,  and  they  spent  very 
little  time  at  the  White  House,  although  the  hus 
bands  of  both  were  members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  during  his  administration.  Mrs. 
Eppes  was  in  poor  health,  and  Mrs.  Randolph  had 
the  responsibility  of  eleven  children  upon  her 
mind,  which  did  not  permit  long  absences  from 
home.  During  the  winter  of  1802-3,  and  again 
in  the  winter  of  1805-6,  she  spent  several  months 
in  Washington,  and  her  accomplishments  and  the 
grace  and  dignity  with  which  she  presided  at  the 
White  House  are  frequently  alluded  to  by  letter- 
writers  of  that  period.  She  was  especially  gifted 
as  a  musician.  Her  taste  and  talent  had  been  de 
veloped  under  the  instruction  of  the  best  teachers 
in  Paris.  Mrs.  Eppes  died  in  1803,  the  second 
year  of  Jefferson's  Presidency.  In  the  absence 
of  his  daughters  Jefferson  was  assisted  in  perform 
ing  the  social  duties  of  his  office  by  Mrs.  Madison, 

40 


MRS.    MARTHA    RANDOLPH,    DAUGHTER    OF    THOMAS   JEFFERSON 
(Painted  by  Thomas  Sully) 


OF  THE 

UNSV;     :TY 


irOBH^. 


JEFFERSON'S    FAMILY 

wife  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  her  sister,  Miss 
Payne,  who  afterwards  married  Dr.  Cutts. 

In  February,  1790,  Martha  married  her  second 
cousin,  Thomas  Mann  Randolph,  the  great-grand 
son  of  Isham  Randolph,  who  was  also  her  great 
grandfather.  The  wedding  took  place  at  Monti- 
cello  with  great  ceremony  just  before  Jefferson 
started  for  New  York  to  assume  the  office  of  Sec 
retary  of  State.  The  groom  was  practically 
brought  up  in  the  family.  He  was  with  them  for 
two  years  in  Paris  and  completed  his  education 
under  Jefferson's  direction  at  the  University  of 
Edinburgh.  He  was  handsome,  wealthy,  popular, 
and  of  aristocratic  tendencies;  an  able  politician, 
a  useful  member  of  Congress,  and  left  an  excellent 
record  as  Governor  of  Virginia;  but  he  was  a 
spendthrift  and  inclined  to  convivial  habits.  He 
spent  money  rapidly  but  made  none,  and  lived 
upon  the  principal  of  his  estates,  selling  a  slave  or 
a  piece  of  land,  an  ox  or  a  horse,  whenever  he 
needed  money. 

Jefferson's  overseer,  Edward  Bacon,  gossips 
about  him  freely  in  his  reminiscences.  "  I  often 
loaned  him  money,"  he  says,  "  and  he  often  applied 
to  me  to  help  him  raise  it  from  others.  When  he 
must  have  it  and  could  get  it  no  other  way,  he 
would  sell  one  of  his  negroes.  Here  is  a  charac 
teristic  note  signed  by  Randolph: 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  me  to  have  as 
much  as  $150  by  tomorrow  evening,  to  send  by  express  to 
pay  into  the  Bank  of  U.  S.  and  Bank  of  Virginia  in  Rich 
mond,  before  three  o'clock  on  Wednesday  next,  that  I  am 
forced,  against  my  will,  to  importune  you  farther  with  the 
offer  of  the  little  girl  at  Edgehill." 

"  I  raised  the  money  for  him,"  continued  Bacon, 
"  and  the  next  day  paid  him  two  hundred  dollars 
for  Edy.  She  was  a  little  girl  four  years  old.  He 

41 


THE    TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

was  finally  unable  to  meet  his  obligations,  failed 
completely,  and  lost  everything.  Mr.  Jefferson, 
in  making  his  will,  had  to  take  especial  care  to 
prevent  Mr.  Randolph's  creditors  from  getting 
what  property  he  left  to  Mrs.  Randolph.  Before 
he  died  his  mind  became  shattered  and  he  pretty 
much  lost  his  reason.  He  had  no  control  of  his 
temper.  I  have  seen  him  cane  his  son  Jeff,  after 
he  was  a  grown  man.  Jeff,  made  no  resistance, 
but  got  away  from  him  as  soon  as  he  could.  I 
have  seen  him  knock  down  his  son-in-law,  Charles 
I.  Bankhead,  with  an  iron  poker.  Bankhead  mar 
ried  his  daughter  Anne.  She  was  a  Jefferson  in 
temper.  He  was  the  son  of  a  very  wealthy  man 
who  lived  near  Fredericksburg.  Bankhead  was  a 
fine-looking  man,  but  a  terrible  drunkard.  I  have 
seen  him  ride  his  horse  into  the  barroom  at  Char- 
lottesville  and  get  a  drink  of  liquor.  I  have  seen 
his  wife  run  from  him  when  he  was  drunk  and  hide 
in  a  potato-hole  to  get  out  of  danger." 

Jefferson  describes  his  son-in-law  in  different 
terms  from  those  used  by  his  overseer,  and  says 
that  he  was  "  a  man  of  science,  sense,  virtue  and 
competent/'  which  shows  how  differently  people 
and  things  look  from  opposite  points  of  view. 
Thomas  Mann  Randolph  served  in  Congress  from 
1803  to  1807,  and  during  the  latter  part  of  Jeffer 
son's  Presidency  he  resented  an  attack  of  John 
Randolph  of  Roanoke  with  such  vigor  as  to  pro 
voke  a  challenge  for  a  duel,  which  the  President 
is  supposed  to  have  prevented.  The  circumstances 
are  related  in  another  chapter.  He  fought  in  the 
War  of  1812  as  a  colonel  of  infantry.  In  1819  he 
was  elected  Governor  of  Virginia  and  served  two 
terms  with  an  excellent  record.  His  death,  Bacon 
says,  was  due  to  exposure  while  riding  in  a  storm, 
"  his  generosity  having  prompted  him  to  give  his 

42 


JEFFERSON'S    FAMILY 

cloak  to  a  poor  person  he  found  ill  clothed  on  the 
highway." 

Bacon,  who  speaks  so  frankly  of  the  family  in 
his  "  Reminiscences/'  was  a  great  admirer  of  Mrs. 
Randolph.  He  says  she  was  the  best  woman  he 
ever  knew.  "  Few  such  women  ever  lived.  I 
never  saw  her  equal.  I  was  with  Mr.  Jefferson 
twenty  years  and  I  never  saw  her  out  of  temper. 
I  can  truly  say  that  I  never  saw  two  such  persons 
in  this  respect  as  she  and  her  father.  I  have  rode 
over  the  plantation,  I  reckon,  a  thousand  times 
with  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  when  he  was  not  talking 
he  was  nearly  always  humming  some  tune  or  sing 
ing  in  a  low  tone  to  himself.  And  it  was  just  so 
with  Mrs.  Randolph.  I  have  never  seen  her  at 
all  disturbed  by  any  amount  of  care  and  trouble." 

After  she  was  driven  from  Monticello  Mrs.  Ran 
dolph  remained  in  Charlottesville  for  a  time  and 
then  went  to  the  home  of  her  daughter,  Mrs. 
Joseph  Coolidge,  in  Boston.  She  made  a  claim 
upon  the  government  for  twelve  hundred  dollars 
alleged  to  be  due  to  the  estate  of  Thomas  Jefferson, 
but  it  was  not  allowed.  She  prepared  to  open  a 
school  to  earn  her  living,  when  she  was  presented 
with  a  purse  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  by  the 
Legislatures  of  North  Carolina  and  Louisiana. 
Upon  this  slender  capital  she  settled  in  Washing 
ton  in  1829  and  lived  there  quietly  until  her  death 
in  1836. 

Mrs.  Randolph  had  six  daughters  and  five  sons, 
— Thomas  Jefferson,  James  Madison,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  Meriwether  Lewis,  George  Wythe, 
Anne,  Ellen,  Virginia,  Cornelia,  and  Septimia. 
Anne  married  the  Mr.  Bankhead  alluded  to  by 
Bacon  in  such  unfavorable  terms;  Ellen  married 
Joseph  Coolidge,  of  Boston,  and  was  the  mother  of 
Thomas  Jefferson  Coolidge,  the  millionaire  manu- 

43 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

facturer  and  diplomatist, — one  of  the  most  emi 
nent  and  influential  citizens  of  New  England; 
Virginia  married  Nicholas  P.  Trist ;  Septimia  mar 
ried  Dr.  Meikleham,  of  Scotland;  Cornelia  and 
Mary  died  unmarried;  Thomas  Jefferson  married 
Jane,  the  daughter  of  Governor  N.  C.  Nicholas, 
of  Virginia,  and  his  daughter,  Miss  C.  R.  Ran 
dolph,  owns  the  old  family  seat,  "  Edgehill,"  near 
Charlottesville,  Virginia,  where  she  still  resides. 
Meriwether  Lewis  married  Elizabeth  Martin,  of 
Tennessee ;  George  Wythe  married  Mary  Pope,  of 
Virginia;  James  Madison  and  Benjamin  Franklin 
died  in  early  manhood,  unmarried. 

Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph,  the  favorite  grand 
son,  was  educated  by  Jefferson  at  Philadelphia. 
There  is  a  little  glimpse  of  paternal  pride  and  af 
fection  in  a  letter  written  to  Dr.  Wistar,  of  Phila 
delphia,  in  whose  charge  "  Jeff."  was  placed  while 
he  was  pursuing  his  studies  in  natural  science.  On 
his  way  through  Washington,  he  stopped  at  the 
White  House  with  his  grandfather  for  several 
days.  The  President  of  the  United  States  ex 
amined  the  contents  of  his  trunk,  made  out  a  list 
of  articles  that  he  needed,  and  gave  him  the  money 
to  purchase  them  when  he  arrived  at  his  destination. 
"  Jeff."  relieved  Bacon  as  manager  of  the  estate  at 
Monticello,  and  continued  in  charge  of  affairs  until 
after  Jefferson's  death,  when  he  settled  the  estate 
and  paid  the  creditors  what  was  lacking  out  of  his 
own  pocket  to  save  the  family  honor.  He  was  also 
the  literary  executor  of  his  grandfather,  edited  his 
correspondence,  and  took  charge  of  his  manu 
scripts. 

At  his  grandfather's  request  he  entered  politics 
and  served  in  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  for  more 
than  twenty  years.  In  1832  he  introduced  a  bill 
to  abolish  slavery  on  the  plan  so  often  suggested 

44 


JEFFERSON'S    FAMILY 

by  Jefferson,  that  slave  children  born  after  a  certain 
date  should  be  free.  In  1842  he  was  the  author 
of  a  bill  and  the  chairman  of  a  committee  to  reform 
the  finances  of  the  State,  which  at  that  time  were 
in  great  confusion.  He  performed  the  duty  with 
great  ability  and  judgment,  and  afterwards  wrote 
a  book  entitled  "  Sixty  Years'  Reminiscences  of  the 
Currency  of  the  United  States."  He  was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  convention  that  revised  the  Constitution 
of  Virginia  in  1851-2.  He  was  a  Visitor  of  the 
State  University  for  thirty-one  years,  and  Rector 
of  that  institution  for  seven  years.  He  went  into 
the  Confederacy  and  held  the  military  rank  of 
colonel  during  the  Civil  War,  although  he  saw  very 
little  service.  From  his  great-grandfather,  Peter 
Jefferson,  he  inherited  enormous  stature  and  physi 
cal  strength  as  well  as  integrity  of  purpose.  When 
over  eighty  years  of  age  he  presided  at  the  Balti 
more  Convention  which  nominated  Horace  Greeley 
as  Democratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and 
died  in  1875  at  the  age  of  eighty-six. 

Mary  Jefferson,  or  "  Polly,"  as  she  was  always 
alluded  to  in  her  father's  letters,  married  her 
cousin,  John  Wayles  Eppes,  familiarly  known  as 
"  Jack,"  who,  like  the  other  son-in-law,  was 
brought  up  in  Jefferson's  family  and  was  very  dear 
to  him.  His  manners  were  frank  and  engaging, 
he  was  highly  educated,  and  particularly  pleasing 
in  conversation,  while  his  character  was  in  every 
way  worthy  of  the  high  opinion  that  Jefferson  fre 
quently  expresses  concerning  him.  He  and  his 
bride  were  children  together,  and  at  seventeen  she 
promised  to  be  his  wife.  The  Duke  de  la  Roche 
foucauld,  who  visited  Monticello  in  1796,  gives  us 
a  pretty  picture  of  this  maiden  and  her  lover. 
"  Miss  Maria,"  he  calls  her,  "  constantly  resides 
with  her  father ;  but  as  she  is  seventeen  years  old 

45 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

and  remarkably  handsome,  she  will  doubtless  soon 
find  that  there  are  duties  which  it  is  sweeter  to 
perform  than  those  of  a  daughter."  She  must 
have  been  of  lovely  character,  for  while  she  was 
lying  ill  and  shortly  before  her  death  Jefferson 
wrote  her  from  Philadelphia :  "  You  have  never 
by  word  or  deed  given  me  a  moment's  uneasiness. 
On  the  contrary  I  have  felt  a  perpetual  gratitude 
to  Heaven  for  having  given  me  in  you  a  source 
of  so  much  pure  and  unmixed  happiness.  Go  on 
then,  my  dear,  as  you  have  done,  deserving  the  love 
of  everybody." 

"  Jack"  Eppes  served  five  terms  in  Congress  and 
was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  but  after 
two  years  in  that  body  he  was  compelled  to  resign 
on  account  of  ill-health  and  died  shortly  after. 

Jefferson's  only  other  relative  living  at  this  time 
was  a  sister,  Anne,  married  to  a  poor  farmer  by 
the  name  of  Marks,  who  lived  down  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  State.  For  a  period  of  thirty  years 
Jefferson  never  failed  to  send  a  carriage  to  bring 
her  to  Monticello  to  spend  the  hot  months  of  the 
summer,  and  after  her  husband's  death  gave  her  a 
home  there.  In  his  will  was  found  this  touching 
remembrance :  "I  recommend  to  my  daughter, 
Martha  Randolph,  the  maintenance  and  care  of  my 
well  beloved  sister  Anne  Scott,  and  trust  confi 
dently  that  from  affection  for  her  as  well  as  for 
my  sake,  she  will  never  let  her  want  for  comfort." 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  trust  was  faithfully 
fulfilled,  and  when  Mrs.  Randolph  left  Monticello, 
the  same  roof  that  sheltered  her,  sheltered  her 
aunt. 

When  Jefferson  returned  to  his  home  at  the  close 
of  his  Presidency  he  found  himself  bankrupt,  and 
the  soil  of  his  farm  practically  exhausted  because 
of  improper  cultivation.  The  cares  of  the  estate 

46 


JEFFERSON'S   FAMILY 

being  too  great  a  burden  for  him  at  his  advanced 
age,  he  gladly  handed  them  over  to  his  grandson, 
"  Jeff."  Randolph,  who  until  the  day  of  his  death 
interposed  himself  so  far  as  possible  between  his 
grandfather  and  the  financial  ruin  which  the  cir 
cumstances  made  unavoidable.  Jefferson  was  too 
sanguine  to  realize  the  depth  of  his  embarrass 
ments.  He  was  not  an  improvident  man;  he  had 
habits  of  order  and  economy,  and  his  exactness 
in  keeping  his  accounts  was  extraordinary;  but 
the  salaries  of  the  various  offices  he  held  seldom 
paid  the  expenses  incidental  to  his  position.  As 
minister  to  France  and  as  President  he  was  con 
stantly  exceeding  his  income.  Shortly  before  the 
expiration  of  his  Presidential  term  he  wrote  to  a 
friend  that  he  had  already  expended  seven  or  eight 
thousand  dollars  of  his  private  funds  for  the  ex 
penses  of  the  White  House. 

He  was  the  soul  of  hospitality  and  was  con 
tinually  imposed  upon.  One  of  his  granddaughters 
has  written  a  description  of  the  daily  life  at  Mon- 
ticello  which  suggests  the  drain  upon  his  resources. 
She  says  that  his  "  visitors  came  of  all  nations  at 
all  times,  and  paid  longer  or  shorter  visits.  I  have 
known  a  New  England  judge  to  bring  a  letter  of 
introduction  to  my  grandfather,  and  stay  three 
weeks.  The  learned  Abbe  Correa,  always  a  wel 
come  guest,  passed  some  weeks  of  each  year  with 
us  during  the  whole  time  of  his  stay  in  the  country. 
We  had  persons  from  abroad,  from  all  the  states 
of  the  union,  from  every  part  of  the  state, — men, 
women  and  children.  In  short,  almost  every  day, 
for  at  least  eight  months  in  the  year,  brought  its 
contingent  of  guests.  People  of  wealth,  fashion, 
men  in  office,  professional  men,  military  and  civil, 
lawyers,  doctors,  Protestant  clergymen,  Catholic 
priests,  members  of  Congress,  foreign  ministers, 

47 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

missionaries,  Indian  agents,  tourists,  travellers, 
artists,  strangers,  friends.  Some  came  from  af 
fection  and  respect,  some  from  curiosity,  some  to 
give  or  receive  advice  or  instruction,  some  from 
idleness,  some  because  others  set  the  example,  and 
very  varied,  amusing  and  agreeable  was  the  society 
afforded  fyy  this  influx  of  guests." 

Bacon  says :  "  He  knew  that  it  more  than  used 
up  all  his  income  from  the  plantation  and  every 
thing  else,  but  he  was  so  kind  and  polite  that  he  re 
ceived  all  his  visitors  with  a  smile,  and  made  them 
welcome.  They  pretended  to  come  out  of  respect 
and  regard  for  him,  but  I  think  that  the  fact  that 
they  saved  a  tavern  bill  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with 
it  with  a  good  many  of  them.  They  ate  him  out  of 
house  and  home.  They  were  there  at  all  times  of 
the  year;  but  about  the  middle  of  June  the  travel 
would  commence  from  the  lower  part  of  the  state 
to  the  springs  and  then  there  would  be  a  perfect 
throng  of  visitors." 

When  Jefferson  was  finally  convinced  of  his 
hopeless  bankruptcy  he  decided  upon  a  sacrifice 
which  none  but  his  own  family,  who  witnessed 
the  struggle  it  cost  him,  could  ever  fully  appreciate. 
This  was  the  offer  of  his  library  to  the  govern 
ment  at  whatever  price  Congress  should  decide 
to  be  just.  Next  to  his  children  he  loved  his 
books,  and  in  letters  written  at  this  time  he  be 
moans  in  pitiful  language  the  distress  of  mind 
which  their  sale  cost  him. 

Congress  was  not  liberal.  The  value  of  the 
collection  which  Jefferson  had  been  fifty  years  in 
making  was  admitted;  his  financial  necessities 
were  well  understood,  and  it  was  repeatedly  stated, 
to  his  mortification,  that  he  was  making  this  sacri 
fice  to  protect  his  financial  honor.  It  was  also 
repeatedly  explained  that  Jefferson's  debts  were 

48 


JEFFERSON'S   FAMILY 

due  solely  to  the  fact  that  he  had  neglected  his 
private  interests  in  the  performance  of  his  public 
duties;  but  none  of  these  arguments  had  any  in 
fluence  upon  Congress,  which  drove  a  sharp  bar 
gain  for  the  books,  and  finally  paid  twenty-three 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  a  sum 
estimated  to  be  about  one-half  of  their  auction/ 
value. 

The  money  was  paid  to  Jefferson's  creditors. 
The  drafts  on  the  United  States  Treasury  simply 
passed  through  his  hands,  and  it  was  but  a  drop 
in  the  bucket.  His  grandson  was  his  endorser 
for  fifty-eight  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty- 
six  dollars,  and  a  commission  merchant  in  Char- 
lottesville  was  his  debtor  to  about  half  that  amount. 
Just  at  the  time  when  his  grandson  was  endeav 
oring  to  secure  an  honorable  settlement,  Jeffer 
son's  affairs  were  still  further  complicated  by  the 
failure  of  one  of  his  personal  friends  for  whom 
he  had  endorsed  heavily,  ex-Governor  Wilson  C. 
Nicholas,  whose  daughter  Thomas  Jefferson  Ran 
dolph  married.  This  added  to  the  total  of  his 
liabilities,  but  the  same  result  must  have  ensued 
had  it  not  occurred.  It  is  gratifying  to  know  that 
Jefferson's  relations  with  his  unfortunate  friend 
were  not  in  the  least  disturbed,  and  that  the  latter 
by  the  sale  of  land  was  able  to  cancel  more  than 
half  of  his  indebtedness.  The  extent  of  Mr.  Jef 
ferson's  liabilities  may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that 
after  his  death  it  was  found  that  his  debts  exceeded 
his  assets  by  about  forty  thousand  dollars,  and  to 
the  honor  of  his  family  every  dollar  was  finally 
paid  by  Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph,  the  executor 
of  his  estate. 

Jefferson  had  not  recovered  from  the  distress 
of  mind  and  mortification  due  to  the  sale  of  his 
library  when  he  yielded  to  the  advice  of  his  friends 

4  49 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

and  again  made  himself  an  object  of  reproach  as 
well  as  of  charity.  He  applied  to  the  Legislature 
of  Virginia  for  permission  to  dispose  of  Monti- 
cello  by  lottery,  which,  he  wrote  his  friend,  J.  C. 
Cabell,  then  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  "  may 
pay  my  debts  and  leave  a  living  for  myself  in 
my  old  age  and  leave  something  for  my  family." 
He  drew  up  a  paper  under  the  title  of  "  Thoughts 
on  Lotteries"  for  presentation  to  the  Legislature. 
It  contained  a  review  of  various  precedents,  an 
argument  to  prove  that  there  could  be  nothing 
immoral  in  such  a  disposition  of  his  estate,  a  state 
ment  of  his  own  necessities,  and  a  review  of  the 
sixty-one  years  he  had  spent  in  the  public  ser 
vice.  He  says,  "  Every  one  knows  how  inevitably 
a  Virginia  estate  goes  to  ruin  when  the  owner 
is  so  far  distant  as  to  be  unable  to  pay  atten 
tion  to  it  himself;  and  the  more  especially  when 
the  line  of  his  employment  is  of  a  character  to 
abstract  and  alienate  his  mind  entirely  from  the 
knowledge  necessary  to  good  and  even  to  saving 
management." 

Great  as  the  mortification  was  to  Jefferson,  it 
was  suffered  without  result.  The  Legislature  de 
clined  to  grant  his  request,  and  he  was  attacked  in 
the  most  vicious  manner  from  every  direction. 
An  attempt  was  made  to  secure  the  passage  of  a 
bill  to  loan  him  eighty  thousand  dollars  from  the 
State  Treasury.  That  was  defeated  also.  But  Jef 
ferson  was  not  without  friends.  Public  meetings 
were  held  throughout  the  State  in  his  behalf,  peti 
tions  and  memorials  were  addressed  to  the  Legis 
lature,  and  contributions  came  from  other  States 
and  cities,  but  none  from  Virginia.  Philip  Hone, 
Mayor  of  New  York,  raised  eight  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars;  five  thousand  dollars  was  sent 
from  Philadelphia;  three  thousand  from  Balti- 

50 


JEFFERSON'S   FAMILY 

more,  and  after  his  death  the  Legislatures  of  South 
Carolina  and  Louisiana  each  made  an  appropriation 
of  ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  benefit  of  his  only 
surviving  daughter,  Mrs.  Randolph,  who  was  left 
entirely  destitute ;  but  not  a  dollar  was  contributed 
by  the  State  nor  by  any  individual  in  Virginia, 
so  far  as  appears  in  the  records.  Six  months  after 
his  death  the  furniture,  the  china,  and  the  decora 
tions  of  Monticello  were  advertised  for  sale  at 
public  auction.  The  only  daughter  of  the  father 
of  the  Democratic  party  was  compelled  to  go  forth 
into  the  world  penniless,  and  never  crossed  the 
threshold  of  her  old  home  again. 

In  the  spring  of  1826  Jefferson  was  attacked 
with  diarrhoea,  to  which  he  had  been  subject  for 
several  years,  and,  as  he  grew  weaker,  he  realized 
that  his  end  was  near.  He  spoke  freely  of  his 
approaching  death  with  all  the  members  of  his 
family  and  the  servants ;  spent  a  certain  time  each 
day  with  his  grandson,  giving  directions  in  regard 
to  his  private  affairs,  and  with  Madison  concerning  «- 
the  management  of  the  University.  During  the 
night  of  the  second  of  July  he  was  overcome  with 
what  his  doctor  calls  a  stupor,  but  about  seven 
o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  third,  as  Dr.  Dun- 
glison,  one  of  the  professors  in  the  University, 
entered  his  room,  he  seemed  to  recover  conscious 
ness,  and  remarked, — 

"  Oh,   doctor,   are  you  still  there?"     Then  he 
asked,  "  Is  this  the  fourth?" 

Those  were  his  last  words.  From  that  time  he  ^~ 
was  unconscious,  and  about  one  o'clock  on  the 
fourth  of  July  he  passed  away.  It  is  an  interest 
ing  historical  coincidence  that  his  life-long  friend, 
John  Adams,  died  at  Quincy,  Massachusetts,  at 
almost  exactly  the  same  hour. 

On  his  marriage,  in   1772,  Jefferson  received, 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

as  his  wife's  dower,  property  which  was  valued 
at  forty  thousand  dollars,  but  with  a  British  debt 
on  it  of  thirteen  thousand  dollars.  He  sold  land  to 
pay  this  debt,  and  the  Virginia  Legislature  having 
passed  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that  the  State 
would  protect  whoever  would  deposit  in  the  State 
Treasury  the  amount  of  their  British  debts,  he  de 
posited  the  proceeds  in  the  Treasury.  This  resolu 
tion  was  afterwards  rescinded,  and  the  money  was 
returned  in  Treasury  certificates.  The  deprecia 
tion  was  so  great,  that  the  value  of  those  received 
by  Jefferson  was  laid  out  in  an  overcoat;  so  that 
in  after  years,  when  riding  by  the  farm  which  he 
had  sold  to  procure  the  thirteen  thousand  dollars 
deposited  in  the  State  Treasury,  he  would  smile 
and  say,  "  I  sold  that  farm  for  an  overcoat." 

Jefferson's  will  was  written  in  his  own  hand. 
He  divided  his  property  as  fairly  as  possible  be 
tween  Francis,  the  son  of  his  deceased  daughter, 
Mary  Eppes,  and  his  surviving  daughter,  Martha. 
Her  share,  including  Monticello,  was  placed  in 
control  of  trustees  with  every  possible  restriction 
to  keep  it  from  the  creditors  of  her  husband.  He 
gave  James  Madison  his  favorite  gold-mounted 
walking-stick  "  as  a  token  of  the  cordial  and  af 
fectionate  friendship,  which  for  half  a  century 
has  united  us  in  the  same  principles  and  pursuits 
of  what  we  have  deemed  for  the  greatest  good  of 
our  country."  He  gave  his  library  to  the  Univer 
sity  of  Virginia  with  the  condition  that  the  dupli 
cates  were  to  be  divided  between  Joseph  Coolidge 
and  Nicholas  C.  Trist,  who  married  his  grand 
daughters.  To  Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph  he  left 
all  his  papers  and  records,  which  were  found  to 
be  carefully  filed  away  in  proper  order,  and  his 
silver  watch  "  instead  of  the  gold  one,  because  of 
its  superior  excellence."  To  each  of  his  other 

52 


JEFFERSON'S   FAMILY 

grandchildren  he  gave  a  gold  watch,  and  to  his 
household  servants  their  freedom,  under  conditions 
that  are  described  in  another  chapter. 

The  funeral  services  were  simple  and  impressive 
according  to  his  explicit  directions,  and  Dorsey, 
the  gardener,  dug  a  grave  beside  that  of  Dabney 
Carr,  the  friend  of  his  boyhood.  "  Choose  some 
unfrequented  vale,"  he  said,  in  giving  directions 
for  the  family  cemetery,  "  in  a  park  where  there 
is  no  sound  to  break  the  stillness  but  a  brook  that 
bubbling,  winds  among  the  woods, — no  mark  of 
human  shape  that  has  been  there,  unless  the  skele 
ton  of  some  poor  wretch  who  sought  that  place 
out  to  despair  and  die  in.  Let  it  be  among  ancient 
and  venerable  oaks,  interspersed  by  some  gloomy 
evergreens.  Appropriate  one  half  to  the  use  of 
my  family,  the  other  to  strangers,  servants  etc. 
Let  the  exit  look  upon  a  small  and  distant  part 
of  the  Blue  Mountains." 

Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph  erected  a  monument 
in  this  little  cemetery  the  year  after  his  grand 
father's  death;  it  was  chipped  away  by  relic  hun 
ters,  and  in  1851  was  replaced  by  another  of  the 
same  pattern,  paid  for  by  the  professors  of  the 
University.  During  the  Civil  War  this  was  carried 
off  in  small  bits  in  the  pockets  of  visitors.  The 
estate  was  allowed  to  fall  into  decay,  and  there  was 
no  stone  left  that  was  not  broken  or  defaced,  while 
the  whole  burial-ground  was  hidden  by  weeds  and 
underbrush.  It  so  remained  until  1878,  when  Con 
gress,  upon  the  motion  of  S.  S.  Cox,  of  New  York, 
appropriated  five  thousand  dollars  to  restore  the 
tomb  and  erect  a  new  monument  after  the  design 
found  among  Jefferson's  papers,  provided  the 
owners  of  the  estate  would  give  a  deed  to  the 
government  for  two  rods  square  surrounding  the 
grave,  and  grant  the  public  free  access  thereto. 

53 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

The  work  was  done  under  the  direction  of  Wil 
liam  M.  Evarts,  then  Secretary  of  State,  and  one 
beautiful  summer  day  a  simple  shaft  was  unveiled 
by  President  Hayes,  in  the  presence  of  his  Cabinet 
and  a  large  attendance  of  distinguished  men. 


54 


II 

JEFFERSON    AS   A   LAWYER 

IT  has  always  been  an  amiable  fiction  among 
historians,  and  Virginians  generally,  that  Wil- 
liamsburg,  the  capital  of  the  colony,  was  a  gay 
and  gorgeous  place,  illuminated  by  the  splendor 
of  a  titled  governor  and  a  vice-regal  court.  We 
read  of  balls,  processions,  and  ceremonials  of  va 
rious  sorts,  of  gilded  coaches,  rich  apparel,  queenly 
manners,  and  princely  entertainments  in  imitation 
of  those  at  Windsor  Castle  and  Hampton  Court, 
when,  in  fact,  Williamsburg  was  a  scattered  vil 
lage  of  ordinary  wooden  houses,  most  of  them 
of  a  single  story,  and  numbering  only  about  two 
hundred  in  all.  The  population  was  less  than  one 
thousand  souls,  whites  and  blacks,  including,  as 
an  early  chronicler  expresses  it,  "  ten  or  twelve 
gentlemen's  families,  besides  merchants  and  trades 
men."  There  were  no  sidewalks,  no  sewers,  no 
water  supply,  and  the  grass  grew  in  the  streets. 
At  the  time  of  the  greatest  display  of  power  and 
social  elegance,  it  did  not  equal  in  appearance, 
convenience,  or  comforts  any  American  village 
of  equal  population  at  the  present  day,  and  re 
sembled  the  undeveloped  towns  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska.  The  "  Palace"  of  the  governor,  which 
was  the  centre  of  social  excitement  as  well  as  offi 
cial  authority,  was  not  superior  in  size  or  comfort 
to  the  homes  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  village 
merchants  throughout  the  land.  The  State-House 
was  not  more  imposing  that  the  court-house  of  the 

55 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

ordinary  county  town  to-day,  and  the  buildings 
of  William  and  Mary  College  were  insignificant 
compared  with  those  that  shelter  the  public  schools 
in  our  western  cities.  But  Williamsburg  was  then 
the  social  and  intellectual  centre  of  the  South, 
and  is  identified  with  the  career  of  many  famous 
Virginians. 

The  surrounding  country,  far  into  the  interior 
of  the  State,  was  peopled  by  rich  tobacco  barons, 
many  of  whom  drank  to  excess,  gambled  reck- 
I  lessly,  raced  horses,  patronized  cock-fights,  and 
lj  were  carried  home  by  their  slaves  insensible  from 
I  their  tavern  carousals.  Drunkenness,  debauchery, 
'  licentiousness,  extravagance,  disregard  of  finan 
cial  obligations,  and  other  moral  delinquencies  were 
looked  upon  with  sympathy  rather  than  censure. 
They  owned  large,  fine  houses,  scantily  furnished 
and  devoid  of  the  comforts  which  are  considered 
necessary  at  the  present  day,  but  their  sideboards 
were  loaded  with  silver  plate  and  rare  china,  and 
their  cellars  were  filled  with  the  costliest  wines. 
Their  hospitality  was  as  reckless  as  the  rest  of 
their  habits.  Every  man  who  had  a  house  kept 
a  hotel,  where  friends  and  strangers  were  received 
with  the  same  open-handed  cordiality  and  toler 
ated  as  long  as  they  cared  to  stay,  unless,  perhaps, 
they  became  offensive  in  their  cups  or  behaved  in 
an  ungentlemanly  manner.  The  planters  were  at 
tended  by  legions  of  slaves,  and  no  gentleman  could 
labor  without  losing  caste.  They  were  arrogant, 
but  generous,  equally  reckless  in  morals  and  with 
money,  and  they  had  a  code  of  honor  peculiar  to 
themselves.  A  man  might  debauch  his  neighbors, 
rob  them  at  the  gaming-table,  impoverish  his  own 
family,  and  fall  under  the  table  in  a  drunken  stu 
por  without  injury  to  his  social  position,  but  if 
he  allowed  himself  to  be  called  a  coward  or  a  liar 

56 


~ 


•r  > 


^  ~- 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

his  reputation  could  only  be  repaired  with  the 
rapier. 

Williamsburg  remains  to-day  very  much  as  it 
was  before  the  Revolution, — the  same  sandy  soil 
and  soft,  dry  air;  a  few  venerable  mansions  and 
much-patched  cottages;  the  old  Bruton  parish 
church  and  the  dust  of  the  colonial  nobility  that 
slumbers  under  its  protecting  shadows.  Some 
of  their  descendants  remain  to  cherish  their  pedi 
grees,  their  clawfoot  furniture,  their  old  clocks. 
Reminiscences  and  relics  of  historical  characters 
spring  up  at  one  from  every  turn  in  a  surprising 
and  gratifying  manner.  Here  Jefferson,  Marshall, 
Monroe,  and  Tyler  were  college  students,  and 
Washington  and  Jefferson  courted  their  wives; 
here  Patrick  Henry  made  his  reputation  as  an 
orator,  and  John  Marshall  occupied  a  law-office 
in  the  main  street.  William  Wirt,  Edmund  Ran 
dolph,  and  other  famous  men  lived  and  loved  and 
worked  in  Williamsburg,  and  probably  more  dis 
tinguished  characters  passed  over  its  sandy  roads 
"  in  the  good  old  colony  times"  than  over  those 
of  any  other  town  of  its  size  in  North  America. 
Two  of  the  buildings — the  court-house  and  the 
main  dormitory  of  William  and  Mary  College — 
were  designed  by  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  the  ar 
chitect  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in  London,  and  the 
home  of  the  president  of  the  college  is  the  only 
house  in  America  that  was  built  by  a  king.  The 
original  mansion  was  occupied  by  Lord  Cornwallis 
as  his  head-quarters  during  the  Revolution.  When 
he  retired  it  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  French 
allies  and  was  accidentally  burned.  Louis  XVI. 
of  France  heard  of  the  disaster  and  sent  over 
money  to  pay  for  its  rebuilding. 

The  Widow  Custis  (she  that  was  Martha  Dan- 
dridge),  afterwards  the  wife  of  Washington, 

57 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

made  her  home  in  Williamsburg.  Her  residence, 
the  centre  of  social  gayety,  was  burned  some  years 
ago,  and  its  site,  still  strewn  with  the  soot-covered 
bricks  that  fell  in  the  fire,  is  now  a  part  of  the 
grounds  of  the  insane  asylum.  Nothing  remains 
but  the  kitchen — a  small  one-story  house,  which 
was  detached,  as  is  usual  in  the  South,  from  the 
main  structure,  and  thus  preserved  from  destruc 
tion.  It  is  now  a  tool-house  for  the  gardeners 
of  the  institution.  The  Custis  family  and  the 
Dandridges,  from  which  Mrs.  Custis  came,  were 
rich,  hospitable,  and  aristocratic,  and  had  several 
plantations  in  the  neighborhood.  While  most  of 
the  courting  was  done  there  when  Washington 
was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  the  wed 
ding  took  place  about  thirty  miles  away,  in  New 
Kent  County,  where  the  bride's  family  had  their 
home.  Her  first  husband,  George  Parke  Custis, 
is  buried  in  a  private  cemetery  upon  one  of  his 
plantations,  about  two  miles  from  town,  and  two 
infant  children  in  the  town  cemetery. 

Lafayette  promenaded  the  streets  every  day  for 
months;  Washington  spent  much  time  there,  and 
the  different  houses  in  which  he  lived  can  still  be 
pointed  out.  It  is  gratifying  to  have  so  much 
veneration  and  interest  shown  by  the  people  in  the 
preservation  of  historical  structures.  The  resi 
dence  of  Chancellor  George  Wythe,  with  whom 
Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Marshall,  and  Henry  Clay 
studied  law  and  maintained  a  partnership  for  sev 
eral  years,  was  the  head-quarters  of  Washington 
in  1781,  and  is  as  well  preserved  as  if  built  in  the 
last  decade.  A  long  frame  structure  near  by  was 
the  home  of  Edmund  Randolph,  the  first  Secretary 
of  State  under  the  Constitution,  who  had  already 
been  Governor  of  Virginia.  His  descendants  still 
occupy  the  home.  The  residences  of  William  Wirt, 

58 


OF  THE 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

John  Marshall,  and  President  John  Tyler  are  still 
pointed  out.  The  foundations  of  the  old  Capitol 
building,  which  was  originally  erected  in  1705, 
restored  after  a  fire  in  1746,  and  then  totally  de 
stroyed  in  1832,  have  been  unearthed  by  the  So 
ciety  for  the  Preservation  of  Virginia  Antiquities 
and  marked  with  a  low  coping  of  cement.  It 
seems  to  have  been  a  twin  building,  in  the  form 
of  the  letter  H,  connected  by  a  colonnade. 

Williamsburg  was  founded  in  1632  and  became 
the  seat  of  government  in  1698,  when  the  State- 
House  and  the  jail  at  Jamestown  were  burned. 
It  was  then  called  Middle  Plantation,  but  was  re- 
christened  by  Governor  Nicholson  in  honor  of  the 
king.  The  three  chief  reasons  for  the  removal, 
as  stated  by  contemporaneous  writers,  were  the 
destruction  of  the  government  buildings  at  James 
town  in  what  was  known  as  the  Bacon  Rebellion 
against  the  authority  of  that  testy  old  tyrant,  Sir 
William  Berkeley,  because  the  College  of  William 
and  Mary  gave  an  air  of  scholastic  dignity  and 
social  distinction  to  the  place,  and  because  "  it  was 
freer  from  the  annoyance  of  moschetoes."  The 
original  town  was  composed  of  three  streets,  wide 
and  straight,  with  a  cipher  made  of  a  "  W"  at 
one  end  and  an  "  M"  at  the  other,  in  honor  of 
King  William  and  Queen  Mary.  The  College 
stood  at  one  end  and  the  Capitol  at  the  other. 

The  governor's  "  Palace"  was  accidentally 
burned  by  the  French  troops  during  the  Revolu 
tion.  The  last  occupant  was  Lord  Dunmore,  who 
resided  in  great  state,  attended  by  the  pomp  and 
formality  of  viceroyalty,  and  at  that  time  there 
was  a  park,  comprising  three  hundred  and  sixty 
acres,  behind  the  mansion,  which  is  now  a  pasture. 
The  site  of  the  "  Palace"  is  occupied  by  a  school 
for  boys. 

59 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

The  three  streets  were  named  in  honor  of  the 
princes  of  the  royal  house.  The  middle  one  is 
still  called  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  and  the  others 
were  named  for  the  Duke  of  York  and  Prince 
Francis.  The  latter  is  now  familiarly  known  as 
Jail  Street. 

The  old  court-house,  which  stands  in  the  centre 
of  the  town  and  was  designed  by  Wren,  is  a  small 
but  well-proportioned  building,  still  occupied  for 
judicial  purposes.  Here  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
Patrick  Henry,  John  Marshall,  William  Wirt,  Ed 
mund  Randolph,  John  Randolph,  John  Tyler,  and 
other  famous  lawyers  of  that  time  tried  their  cases. 
To-day  it  seems  an  humble  theatre  for  their  tal 
ents. 

An  octagonal  building  of  brick,  familiar  to  every 
American  school-boy  by  reason  of  the  pictures  that 
have  appeared  in  the  geographies  and  histories,  is 
shown  as  "  the  Powder  Horn,"  built  by  Alexander 
Spottswood  in  1714  for  an  armory  and  powder 
magazine.  Here  was  the  scene  of  the  first  assem 
bling  of  an  armed  force  in  the  American  colonies 
in  opposition  to  the  authority  of  the  king,  when 
Lord  Dunmore,  in  1/74,  fearing  a  mutiny  among 
the  colonies,  removed  the  ammunition  from  "  the 
Powder  Horn"  to  the  ship-of-war  Magdalene, 
which  was  then  lying  at  Yorktown.  The  colony 
was  thrown  into  a  fit  of  excitement,  which  rapidly 
spread  north  and  south,  and  the  act  was  discussed 
in  every  settlement  of  the  colony  as  an  example 
of  British  tyranny. 

General  Washington  was  a  member  of  the  Ma 
sonic  lodge,  and  the  chair  he  occupied  is  still  care 
fully  preserved.  The  Williamsburg  Gazette,  the 
oldest  newspaper  in  Virginia,  and  one  of  the  old 
est  in  the  country,  which  first  appeared  on  the 
sixth  of  August,  1736,  is  still  published. 

60 


^  7: 
0  o 
8-  "- 


3.      £ 

8    - 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

The  Bruton  parish  church,  organized  in  1632, 
and  which,  with  perhaps  the  exception  of  a  little 
sanctuary  at  Santa  Fe,  is  the  oldest  building  now 
used  for  religious  worship  in  America,  is  built  of 
brick  in  the  form  of  a  Roman  cross,  with  a 
stately  spire,  and  has  been  thoroughly  restored  to 
its  original  condition.  Upon  the  walls  are  inter 
esting  tablets.  One  of  them,  erected  to  the  mem 
ory  of  Dr.  William  Cocke,  announces  that  "  his 
honoured  friend  Alexander  Spottswood,  Esquire, 
with  the  principal  gentlemen  of  the  Parish,  at 
tended  his  funeral,  and,  weeping,  saw  his  corps 
inter'ed  at  the  west  side  of  the  alter  in  this  church." 
There  is  a  tablet  to  the  memory  of  President  Tyler 
bearing  a  long  epitaph,  a  scholarly  composition. 
The  most  precious  relics  are  three  sets  of  silver 
for  the  communion  service.  One  came  from  the 
church  at  Jamestown,  the  first  English  church 
erected  in  North  America;  another  was  presented 
to  Bruton  church  by  Queen  Anne,  and  the  third 
was  a  gift  of  George  III. 

The  oldest  tomb  in  the  church-yard  bears  the 
date  of  1664.  Colonel  John  Page  was  buried  there 
in  1692,  and  Alice  Page,  his  wife,  in  1678.  The 
Blair  family  are  buried  near  by,  and  nearly  every 
member  of  the  "  First  Families  of  Virginia"  can 
trace  his  ancestry  to  some  one  whose  half-obliter 
ated  epitaph  is  to  be  found  within  this  sacred 
enclosure.  Among  the  common  colonists  sleeps 
Lady  Christine  Stuart,  a  member  of  the  royal 
house  of  Scotland,  who  married  a  Virginia  gen 
tleman  and  lived  and  died  in  Williamsburg.  She 
was  a  niece  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  and  is  said 
to  have  inherited  the  grace  and  beauty  of  that 
unfortunate  woman. 

An  imposing  white  shaft  near  the  entrance 
covers  the  resting-place  of  Judge  Nathaniel  Bev- 

61 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

erly  Tucker,  who,  his  epitaph  says,  "  was  de 
scended  from  Virginia's  best  blood/'  while  over 
in  the  farther  corner  is  a  stone  with  this  striking 
inscription : 

"  Here  lies  all  the  grave  can  claim 

of 

Mrs.  Ann  Timson  Jones, 
Consort  of  the  Rev.  Scervant  Jones. 

Born  i  Sept.  1787 

Mar.  26  Dec.  1805. 

Bapt'd  3  Mar.  1822 

Died  6  June  1849. 
If  woman  ever  yet  did  well ; 
If  woman  ever  did  excell ; 
If  woman  husband  e'er  adored; 
If  woman  ever  loved  the  Lord 
If  ever  Faith  and  Hope  and  Love 
In  human  flesh  did  live  and  move; 
If  all  the  Graces  e'er  did  meet — 
In  her,  in  her,  they  were  complete. 


My  Ann,  my  all,  my  Angel  wife ! 
My  dearest  one,  my  love,  my  life ! 
I  cannot  say  or  sigh  farewell. 
But  where  thou  dwellest  I  will  dwell." 

This  epitaph  was  composed  by  a  Baptist  clergy 
man  named  Scervant  Jones,  a  well-known,  eccen 
tric  character  in  that  part  of  the  country  for  half 
a  century,  who  had  an  odd  way  of  mixing  humor 
and  piety.  Mr.  Jones  lies  beside  his  wife,  and 
his  tombstone  bears  a  long  epitaph  of  an  apologetic 
character.  It  speaks  of  his  many  faults  and  frail 
ties,  but  gives  him  credit  for  being  a  useful  and 
well-meaning  man.  His  enemies  are  invited  to 
forgive  him  and  the  public  to  remember  that  he 
was  more  sinned  against  than  sinning. 

One  of  the  stories  they  tell  of  Brother  Jones 
is  that  while  riding  his  circuit  one  day  he  stopped 
for  rest  and  refreshment  at  the  house  of  a  planter 
named  Towles.  The  family  had  finished  dinner 
as  he  arrived,  and  the  servants  were  directed  to 

62 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

bring  back  to  the  table  what  was  left  on  the  plat 
ter.     Mr.  Jones  said  grace  as  follows : 

"  Good  Lord  of  love, 
Look  from  above 
And  bless  the  Towles 
Who  ate  these  fowls 
And  left  the  bones 
For  Scervant  Jones." 

The  list  of  the  alumni  of  William  and  Mary 
College  in  early  days  reads  like  a  roll  of  the  Con 
tinental  Congress  and  the  first  Constitutional  Con 
vention.  It  was  the  fountain-head  of  rebellion 
against  tyranny  and  the  inspiration  of  the  apostles 
of  the  rights  of  men.  Richard  Bland  announced 
from  William  and  Mary  in  1766  the  startling  doc 
trine  that  America  was  no  part  of  the  Kingdom  of 
England,  and  Dabney  Carr  in  1773,  as  chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence,  here  took 
the  first  step  towards  securing  united  resistance 
on  the  part  of  the  colonies.  Peyton  Randolph, 
the  first  president  of  the  Continental  Congress; 
Thomas  Jefferson,  who  wrote  the  Declaration  of 
Independence;  John  Tyler,  who  first  proposed  a 
constitutional  convention;  Edmund  Randolph, 
who  by  submitting  what  is  known  as  "  the  Vir 
ginia  Plan"  gave  direction  to  its  proceedings; 
John  Marshall,  who  as  chief- justice  interpreted 
the  meaning  of  the  Constitution,  and  many  others 
who  bore  active  but  less  conspicuous  parts  in  the 
formation  of  the  government  were  educated  at  that 
institution.  Seven  of  the  eleven  members  of  the 
Committee  of  Correspondence ;  seven  of  the  eleven 
members  of  the  Committee  of  Safety;  seventeen 
of  the  thirty-one  members  of  the  committee  that 
reported  the  Declaration  of  Rights,  four  of  the 
seven  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
from  Virginia,  seventeen  of  the  thirty-two  mem- 

63 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

bers  of  the  Continental  Congress,  five  of  the  six 
judges  of  the  first  courts,  three  of  the  five  speakers 
of  the  House  of  Delegates  during  the  Revolution, 
two  of  the  three  delegates  from  Virginia  to  the 
Annapolis  Convention,  and  four  of  the  seven  dele 
gates  to  the  Federal  Convention,  were  graduates. 

Three  of  the  seven  Presidents  of  the  United 
States  born  in  Virginia,  four  of  the  five  judges 
contributed  by  that  State  to  the  Supreme  Bench 
of  the  United  States,  sixteen  of  the  twenty-seven 
United  States  Senators,  three  of  the  four  speakers 
of  the  national  House  of  Representatives,  two  of 
the  three  ambassadors  to  England,  four  of  the  six 
ministers  to  France,  fifteen  of  the  thirty-three  Gov 
ernors  of  Virginia,  and  twenty-one  of  the  forty- 
three  members  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  State 
were  alumni,  and  this  honor  roll  might  be  con 
tinued  indefinitely,  not  forgetting  General  Winfield 
Scott,  who  also  was  educated  there. 

Under  the  floor  of  the  chapel,  which  was  built 
in  1729,  rest  the  remains  of  Sir  John  Randolph 
and  his  two  eminent  sons,  Peyton  Randolph,  first 
president  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  John 
Randolph,  father  of  Edmund  Randolph,  who  was 
Secretary  of  State  under  Washington.  Near  them 
lie  James  Madison,  the  first  president  of  the  col 
lege  after  the  Revolution;  Lord  Botetourt,  the 
most  popular  of  Virginia's  royal  governors,  who 
died  in  1771,  and  many  other  famous  men.  For 
many  years  after  the  Civil  War  the  College  was 
badly  crippled,  owing  to  the  partial  destruction 
of  its  buildings  and  the  depletion  of  its  income, 
but  in  1893,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Hoar 
in  the  Senate  and  General  N.  M.  Curtis,  of  New 
York,  in  the  House,  an  act  was  passed  to  pay 
the  damages  that  were  caused  by  the  Union  sol 
diers.  Then  the  venerable  institution  was  galvan- 

64 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

ized  into  renewed  life  by  its  energetic  president, 
Lyon  G.  Tyler,  a  son  of  the  tenth  President  of 
the  United  States,  five  generations  of  whose  family 
have  been  graduated  from  the  institution. 

William  and  Mary  is  the  oldest  college  in 
America,  although  Harvard  graduated  the  first 
class.  In  1685  the  Rev.  James  Blair  was  sent 
over  to  Virginia  to  act  as  a  sort  of  deputy  for 
the  Bishop  of  London,  who  had  ecclesiastical  ju 
risdiction  over  the  colonial  churches.  They  called 
him  a  "  commissary."  In  1691  he  returned,  to 
England  to  represent  to  the  king  and  the  bishop 
the  necessity  for  an  institution  for  higher  educa 
tion.  He  was  kindly  received  by  his  sovereigns 
and  by  the  clergy,  and  in  February,  1692,  the  king 
granted  him  a  charter  and  gave  him  two  thousand 
pounds  in  cash  and  the  revenues  of  certain  crown 
lands.  Seymour,  the  attorney-general,  having  re 
ceived  the  royal  command  to  draw  up  the  docu 
ments,  remonstrated.  He  saw  no  need  of  a  col 
lege  in  Virginia.  The  patient  Mr.  Blair  explained 
that  it  was  needed  to  educate  young  men  for  the 
ministry,  and  begged  the  honorable  attorney-gen 
eral  to  remember  that  the  colonists  had  souls  to 
be  saved  as  well  as  the  people  of  England. 

"  D your  souls !"  exclaimed  the  imperious 

Seymour.  "  Make  tobacco !" 

The  college  was  named  in  honor  of  the  two  sov 
ereigns,  who  endowed  it  with  twenty  thousand 
acres  of  land,  the  receipts  from  a  tax  of  one  penny 
a  pound  on  tobacco  exported,  and  the  revenue  from 
skins  and  furs.  Robert  Boyle,  a  famous  philan 
thropist  of  those  days,  endowed  it  with  a  fund 
for  the  conversion  and  instruction  of  the  Indians. 
Sir  Christopher  Wren,  the  greatest  of  English 
architects,  drew  the  plans  for  the  building.  Dr. 
Blair  was  appointed  the  first  president  and  five  pro- 
5  65 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

fessors,  of  Greek,  Latin,  mathematics,  moral  phi 
losophy,  and  divinity,  were  imported.  The  first  com 
mencement  took  place  in  July,  1700,  and  a  great 
concourse  of  people  from  all  the  colonies  gathered 
at  Williamsburg  to  witness  the  graduating  exer 
cises.  They  came  from  New  York,  New  England, 
Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Maryland,  and  the  Caro- 
linas,  and  it  was  one  of  the  events  of  that  century. 

The  population  of  Virginia  at  this  time  was 
about  forty  thousand.  Massachusetts  had  seventy 
thousand;  Connecticut,  thirty  thousand;  New 
Hampshire,  ten  thousand ;  Rhode  Island,  ten  thou 
sand;  New  York,  thirty  thousand;  New  Jersey, 
fifteen  thousand;  Pennsylvania,  twenty  thousand; 
Maryland,  twenty-five  thousand;  North  Carolina, 
five  thousand;  South  Carolina,  seven  thousand. 
The  total  population  of  the  colonies  was  about  two 
hundred  and  sixty-three  thousand. 

The  first  Greek-letter  fraternity — Phi  Beta 
Kappa — was  organized  at  William  and  Mary  in 
1776,  and  among  the  charter  members  were  John 
Marshall,  chief- justice,  and  Bushrod  Washington, 
associate  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court;  Spencer 
Roane,  who  was  considered  the  ablest  jurist  ever 
produced  in  Virginia ;  John  Brown  and  Stephen  T. 
Mason,  Senators  from  Virginia;  William  Short, 
minister  to  Spain  and  Holland,  and  Elisha  Parma- 
lee,  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  who  established 
chapters  at  Yale  and  Harvard  when  he  returned 
home. 

Although  he  was  much  attached  to  the  old  town 
and  his  alma  mater,  it  was  Jefferson  who  caused 
the  removal  of  the  seat  of  government  to  Rich 
mond  on  the  theory  that  the  capital  of  a  State 
should  be  as  near  as  possible  to  its  geographical 
centre. 

When  young  Jefferson  came  to  college  at  Wil- 
66 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

liamsburg  he  brought  with  him  all  the  requisites 
of  the  successful  student, — perfect  health,  good 
habits,  and  an  inquisitive  intellect.  He  came  from 
a  pure  and  honest  home,  where  he  had  learned 
nothing  but  what  was  good  and  honorable,  and  had 
passed  through  a  course  of  preparation  under  care 
ful  and  conscientious  tutors.  When  five  years  old 
he  attended  an  English  school,  and  at  nine  became 
a  boarding  scholar  in  the  family  of  the  Rev.  Wil 
liam  Douglass,  who  had  emigrated  from  Scotland' 
to  be  tutor  in  the  Monroe  family,  and  afterwards 
established  a  school  for  boys  on  the  banks  of  the 
James.  Jefferson's  father  died  in  1757,  and  his 
situation  was  touchingly  described  by  him  years 
afterwards  in  the  letter  previously  referred  to 
written  to  his  eldest  grandson  (Thomas  Jefferson 
Randolph)  when  the  latter  was  sent  from  home 
to  school  for  the  first  time.  He  writes : 

"  When  I  recollect  that  at  fourteen  years  of  age 
the  whole  care  and  direction  of  myself  was  thrown 
on  myself  entirely,  without  a  relative  or  friend 
qualified  to  advise  or  guide  me,  and  recollect  the 
various  sorts  of  bad  company  with  which  I  asso 
ciated  from  time  to  time,  I  am  astonished  that  I 
did  not  turn  off  with  some  of  them,  and  become 
as  worthless  to  society  as  they  were.  I  had  the 
good  fortune  to  become  acquainted  very  early  with 
some  characters  of  very  high  standing,  and  to 
feel  the  incessant  wish  that  I  could  ever  become 
what  they  were." 

He  immediately  made  use  of  his  liberty  to  change 
his  school,  and  from  what  we  know  of  the  cir 
cumstances,  we  can  infer  that  it  was  then  he  first 
developed  that  spirit  of  resistance  to  tyranny  and 
religious  intolerance  which  influenced  his  entire 
life.  Parson  Douglass  was  a  hard  man  of  the 
"  Evangelical"  type.  He  gave  his  pupils  the  ser- 

67 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

mons  and  lectures  of  Philip  Doddridge  for  light 
reading  and  pounded  religion  as  well  as  the  lan 
guages  and  mathematics  into  them  at  the  rate  of 
sixteen  pounds  sterling  a  year,  as  we  see  by  the 
entries  in  Peter  Jefferson's  account-books.  James 
Maury,  a  Huguenot,  of  liberal  views  on  religion, 
of  jovial  disposition,  refined  manners,  and  literary 
tastes,  also  kept  a  school  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
to  him  young  Jefferson  went  to  complete  his  prepa 
rations  for  college.  Teacher  and  pupil  became  fast 
friends  for  life,  and  one  of  Jefferson's  first  acts 
after  he  became  Secretary  of  State  was  to  appoint 
Dr.  Maury 's  son,  also  named  James,  consul  to 
Liverpool,  where  he  remained  for  forty-five  years. 
Dr.  Maury  must  have  been  a  kind  friend  as  well 
as  a  competent  teacher,  and  exercised  a  powerful 
influence  in  shaping  the  character  of  the  brilliant 
youth,  who  always  regarded  him  with  confidence 
and  affection. 

When  Jefferson  started  for  William  and  Mary 
College  in  1760,  on  horseback,  a  five  days'  ride, 
he  had  never  been  farther  than  twenty  miles,  from 
home,  had  never  seen  a  town  of  more  than  twenty 
houses,  and  his  acquaintance  was  limited  to  his 
school-fellows  and  the  families  of  the  farmers 
around  Shadwell.  Yet  within  a  few  months  we 
find  this  awkward  youth  of  seventeen  the  favored 
and  frequent  companion  of  Francis  Fauquier,  the 
most  elegant  and  accomplished  gentleman  Virginia 
had  ever  seen;  Doctor  William  Small,  the  most 
learned  man  in  the  colony,  and  George  Wythe,  the 
leader  of  its  bar.  Small  was  professor  of  philoso 
phy  and  mathematics  at  William  and  Mary,  having 
been  induced  to  come  from  Edinburgh  a  few  years 
before.  Fauquier,  a  favorite  of  the  king,  was  gov 
ernor,  and  lived  in  the  "  Palace,"  where  these  four 
congenial  spirits  dined  together  "  at  a  familiar 

68 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

table"  two  or  three  times  a  week.  Why  these  men 
should  have  selected  an  unsophisticated  student 
for  their  companion  must  be  left  for  conjecture, 
but  from  them  he  received  his  culture  and  his  first 
knowledge  of  the  world. 

Governor  Fauquier  introduced  French  novels, 
classical  music,  card-playing,  and  many  new 
"  vices"  into  the  colony.  Professor  Small  instilled 
free  thought  and  a  broad  philosophy  into  the  minds 
of  his  students.  The  results  were  felt  soon  after 
throughout  the  young  nation,  and  Jefferson  says 
"  he  fixed  the  destinies  of  my  life."  Already 
Small's  liberal  views  on  theology  and  kindred 
subjects  were  beginning  to  bring  William  and 
Mary  College  under  suspicion  among  the  orthodox, 
and  for  that  reason  James  Madison  was  sent  to 
Princeton,  where  the  fountain  of  learning  was 
undefiled.  George  Wythe,  afterwards  chancellor, 
the  most  brilliant  young  lawyer  in  Virginia,  was 
just  beginning  his  career  of  honor  and  influence, 
and  it  was  his  privilege  to  educate  for  the  bar  and 
prepare  for  public  life  Thomas  Jefferson,  John 
Marshall,  and  Henry  Clay.  Wythe  was  a  man  of 
conscience  as  well  as  ability  and  wisdom.  He  was 
among  the  first  to  denounce  the  iniquity  of  slavery, 
and  early  emancipated  his  slaves.  Henry  Clay 
went  from  his  office  and  inspiration  to  Kentucky, 
where  his  first  political  act  was  an  attempt  to  in 
duce  that  young  Commonwealth  to  abolish  slavery. 

If  Thomas  Jefferson  had  been  educated  in  a 
European  capital  he  would  probably  have  been  an 
artist  or  an  author.  As  his  tastes  then  rail,  he 
might  have  fixed  upon  architecture  as  his  profes 
sion.  At  Williamsburg,  with  George  Wythe  for  a 
daily  associate,  he  needs  must  become  a  lawyer, 
and  accordingly,  in  1763,  after  two  years  at  col 
lege,  he  entered  Wythe's  office  as  a  student. 

69 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

When  an  old  man,  for  the  edification  of  a  grand 
child,  Jefferson  drew  a  beautiful  sketch  in  high 
relief  of  his  own  virtues  in  boyhood,  which  seem 
precocious  and  unnatural.  But  we  have  better 
evidence  in  his  character  than  in  his  words. 
Neither  his  mind  nor  his  morals  were  tainted 
by  his  association  with  Francis  Fauquier,  the  most 
agreeable  but  the  most  profligate  Governor  of  Vir 
ginia,  whose  evil  influence  was  felt  for  generations. 
It  speaks  well  for  Jefferson's  social  attractions 
that  he  was  admitted  to  the  circle  of  older  and 
accomplished  men  over  which  Fauquier  presided, 
and  for  his  moral  stamina  that  he  did  not  acquire 
vicious  habits.  No  ordinary  college  student  could 
have  commanded  such  a  social  position  or  resisted 
the  temptations  it  entailed.  According  to  his  own 
account  he  must  have  been  a  model  youth  and  a 
remarkable  student.  He  says  that  young  men 
sought  his  advice  as  to  what  they  should  read,  and 
parents  consulted  him  concerning  the  education  of 
their  sons.  He  was  asked  to  suggest  a  course  of 
study  for  Madison  when  the  latter  was  seventeen 
and  himself  twenty-three.  He  had  already  written 
a  preposterous  schedule  of  reading  for  a  young 
man  about  to  enter  upon  the  law,  and  from  that 
we  may  learn  both  what  he  claims  to  have  practised 
himself  and  what  he  laid  down  for  Madison,  Mon 
roe,  and  other  young  friends. 

The  student,  duly  prepared  for  the  study  of  the 
law  by  mastering  Latin  and  French,  he  says,  and 
by  a  course  of  those  "  peculiarly  engaging  and 
delightful"  branches,  natural  philosophy  and 
mathematics,  must  divide  each  day  into  portions, 
and  assign  to  each  portion  the  studies  most  proper 
for  it.  Beginning  at  daylight,  until  eight  in  the 
morning  he  should  confine  himself  to  natural 
philosophy,  morals,  and  religion ;  reading  treatises 

70 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

on  astronomy,  chemistry,  anatomy,  agriculture, 
botany,  international  law,  moral  philosophy,  and 
metaphysics.  Religion,  during  these  early  morn 
ing  hours,  was  to  be  considered  under  two  heads, 
— "  natural  religion"  and  "  religion  sectarian." 
For  information  concerning  religion  the  student 
was  advised  to  apply  to  the  following  sources: 
"  Bible;  New  Testament;  commentaries  on  them 
by  Middleton  in  his  works,  and  by  Priestley  in 
his  '  Corruption  of  Christianity'  and  '  Early  Opin 
ions  of  Christ;'  the  sermons  of  Sterne,  Massillon, 
and  Bourdaloue."  From  eight  to  twelve  A.M.  he 
was  to  read  law  and  condense  cases,  "  never  using 
two  words  where  one  will  do."  From  twelve  to 
one  he  was  advised  to  "  read  politics,"  in  Montes 
quieu,  Locke,  Priestley,  Malthus,  and  the  "  Parlia 
mentary  Debates."  In  the  afternoon  he  was  to 
divert  his  mind  with  history;  and,  when  evening 
came,  he  might  regale  himself  with  literature, 
criticism,  rhetoric,  and  oratory.  As  an  alternative 
amusement  the  student  was  recommended  in  the 
evening  "  to  write  criticisms  of  the  books  he  read, 
to  analyze  the  orations  of  Demosthenes  and  Cicero, 
to  read  good  English  orations  and  pleadings  with 
closest  attention  to  the  secrets  of  their  excellence, 
to  compose  original  essays,  and  to  plead  imaginary 
causes  with  a  friend." 

He  used  to  tell  his  grandchildren  that  when  he 
was  a  law  student  he  kept  a  clock  on  a  shelf  oppo 
site  his  bed;  and  his  rule  was  to  get  up  in  the 
summer  mornings  as  soon  as  he  could  see  what 
o'clock  it  was  and  begin  his  day's  work  at  once. 
In  the  winter  he  rose  at  five  and  went  to  bed  at 
nine. 

We  learn  from  his  early  letters,  however,  that 
while  at  college  he  was  quite  extravagant  in  dress 
and  in  his  outlay  for  horses.  He  was  very  exact- 

71 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

ing  of  his  groom  in  having  his  horses  always  beau 
tifully  kept,  and  it  was  his  habit,  when  his  riding- 
horse  was  brought  up  for  him,  to  brush  his  white 
cambric  handkerchief  across  the  animal's  shoulders, 
and  send  it  back  to  the  stable  if  any  dust  were  left 
on  the  handkerchief. 

Early  in  the  year  1767,  about  the  time  of  his 
twenty-fourth  birthday,  he  was  admitted  and  be 
gan  at  once  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Unlike 
most  beginners  at  the  bar,  he  was  not  compelled 
to  wait  for  clients.  He  was  fortunate  in  his 
generation  and  in  the  circumstances  which  sur 
rounded  him.  In  1642  the  Legislature  of  Virginia 
passed  a  law  expelling  all  "  mercenary  attorneys" 
— that  is,  paid  attorneys — from  the  courts,  and  for 
nearly  eleven  years  not  a  lawyer  in  the  State  could 
take  a  fee  from  a  client  for  servjng  in  court.  As 
the  rogues  took  advantage  of  this,  the  law  was 
repealed  and  attorneys  were  licensed;  but  they 
were  required  to  take  an  oath  not  to  oppress  clients 
nor  encourage  litigation.  No  sooner  were  they 
back  at  the  bar  again  than  they  began  to  make 
mischief,  and  the  House  of  Burgesses  in  1657  de 
cided  to  "  eject"  lawyers  entirely  from  the  courts. 
The  law  appears  upon  the  statute-books  of  that 
date  and  remained  in  force  twenty-three  years. 
In  the  meantime  people  who  had  litigation  were 
compelled  to  rely  upon  their  neighbors  to  assist 
them  in  examining  witnesses  and  making  pleas. 
But  in  1680  the  House  of  Burgesses,  at  that  time 
composed  exclusively  of  farmers,  passed  an  act 
allowing  the  lawyers  to  appear  again  in  court,  and 
fixing  their  compensation  at  rates  which  were  in 
tended  to  be  liberal.  The  ordinary  fee  for  trying 
a  case  in  the  chief  court  of  the  colony  was  five 
hundred  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  in  the  county 
courts,  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 

72 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

These  fees  were  the  highest  that  could  be 
charged,  and  Jefferson's  account-books  show  that 
his  usual  compensation  was  somewhat  less.  Dur 
ing  his  first  year  at  the  bar  he  was  employed  in  sixty- 
eight  cases  before  the  General  Court,  and  his  fees 
amounted  to  two  hundred  and  ninety-three  pounds 
four  shillings  and  five  and  three- fourths  pence.  At 
that  rate  a  lawyer  would  receive  fifty  dollars  for 
arguing  a  case  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  ten  dollars  before  a  local  court,  two 
dollars  for  an  oral  opinion,  and  five  dollars  for 
a  written  opinion.  Until  after  1792,  when  law 
yers'  fees  were  again  fixed  by  the  Legislature  of 
Virginia,  the  most  eminent  lawyer  in  the  State 
could  not  legally  charge  for  the  most  elaborately 
written  opinion  on  the  most  abstruse  question  more 
than  sixteen  dollars  and  sixty-six  cents ;  and  when 
lawyers  attended  court  more  than  a  day's  travel 
from  their  homes  they  were  allowed  only  three 
dollars  and  fifty-eight  cents  a  day. 

Nevertheless,  it  was  a  good  time  for  a  lawyer 
when  Jefferson  began  to  practise,  and  he  could 
make  up  for  the  small  fees  by  the  number  of  his 
cases.  Almost  everybody  was  in  litigation.  After 
one  hundred  years  of  extravagance  the  planters 
were  bankrupt.  One  century  of  prosperity,  three 
generations  of  spendthrifts,  then  a  lawyer  and  the 
sheriff.  There  were  no  manufactures,  no  commerce, 
no  towns,  no  internal  trade.  As  fast  as  the  rich 
ness  of  the  soil  could  be  converted  into  tobacco  it 
was  sent  to  London  and  exchanged  for  fine  man 
sions,  heavy  furniture,  costly  apparel,  wines,  fine 
horses,  coaches,  and  slaves.  The  planters  lived  as 
though  the  earth  were  inexhaustible,  and  tried  to 
maintain  the  lordly  style  of  English  grandees. 
The  soil  was  rapidly  exhausted,  the  price  of  ne 
groes  always  on  the  increase,  and  the  price  of  to- 

73 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

"bacco  always  going  downward.  The  only  laborers 
were  ignorant  slaves,  whose  possession  destroyed 
the  energy  of  their  masters,  swelled  their  pride, 
and  dulled  their  understanding. 

Such  was  the  condition  when  Jefferson  was  ad 
mitted  to  the  bar,  and  he  doubled  his  estate  because 
of  it  in  seven  years'  practice.  Of  his  business 
before  the  inferior  tribunals  he  leaves  no  record, 
but  during  his  first  year  he  had  sixty-eight  cases 
before  the  General  Court;  the  second  year  one 
hundred  and  fifteen;  the  third,  one  hundred  and 
ninety-eight ;  the  fourth,  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
one;  the  fifth,  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven;  the 
sixth,  one  hundred  and  fifty- four ;  the  seventh,  one 
hundred  and  twenty-seven,  and  the  eighth,  which 
was  1774,  only  twenty-nine,  for  at  that  time  the 
colony  was  agitated  and  Virginia  had  other  work 
for  him. 

Most  of  his  business  concerned  conflicting  land- 
grants,  debts  and  mortgages,  horse  and  slave 
trades,  trespass,  assault  and  battery,  libel,  mal 
versation  in  office,  and  contested  elections.  The 
Carters,  Carringtons,  Dinwiddies,  Claibornes, 
Elands,  Lees,  Pages,  and  other  of  the  first  families 
of  Virginia  were  his  clients.  The  young  attorney 
must  have  had  the  confidence  of  the  community, 
When  he  needed  counsel  or  assistance  he  applied 
to  George  Wythe,  his  preceptor,  or  to  Edmund 
Pendleton,  and  his  account-books  show  that  he 
divided  fees  with  Patrick  Henry  on  several  occa 
sions. 

His  keen  observation,  quick  perceptions,  and  in 
quisitive  nature  qualified  him  for  the  law.  He 
had  tireless  industry,  method,  learning,  skill  and 
rapidity  in  handling  books,  and  the  instinct  of 
research  which  led  him  to  the  fact  he  wanted  as 
the  hound  scents  the  game,  a  serenity  of  temper, 

74 


JEFFERSON  AS   A   LAWYER 

a  habit  of  noting  everything  upon  paper  in  such 
a  way  that  his  fund  of  knowledge  could  be  rapidly 
arranged  and  brought  into  action,  a  ready  sympa 
thy  with  a  client's  mind,  and  the  faculty  of  stating 
a  case  with  clearness  and  brevity.  He  once  de 
fined  a  lawyer  as  a  person  whose  trade  it  is  to1 
contest  everything,  concede  nothing,  and  talk  by 
the  hour.  He  was  no  orator.  His  vocal  organs 
were  defective,  and  if  he  spoke  in  a  tone  much 
above  that  of  conversation,  his  voice  soon  became 
husky  and  articulation  difficult.  He  never  resumed 
the  practice  of  law  after  he  was  elected  to  the  Con 
tinental  Congress.  In  1775,  at  thirty-one,  after 
seven  years'  successful  exercise  of  his  profession, 
he  transferred  his  unfinished  cases  to  his  friend 
and  kinsman,  Edmund  Randolph,  before  he  started 
for  Philadelphia. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  service  Jefferson  performed 
for  his  native  State  was  to  revise  the  laws  of  Vir 
ginia,  which  were  a  chaos  of  obsolete  and  anti 
quated  enactments, — good  for  lawyers  but  bad  for 
clients.  A  Committee  of  Revision  was  elected  by 
the  Assembly  by  ballot.  He  received  the  highest 
number  of  votes.  The  other  members  were  Ed- 
.  mund  Pendleton,  George  Wythe,  his  preceptor, 
George  Mason,  and  F.  L.  Lee.  The  two  last- 
named,  not  being  lawyers,  did  little  work.  Jef 
ferson  took  the  greater  part  of  the  burden  upon 
his  own  shoulders,  and  produced  a  revision  which 
was  not  only  important  to  the  State,  but  was  the 
most  arduous,  difficult,  and  perplexing  labor  of  his 
life. 

In  those  days,  when  printing  presses  were  scarce, 
the  acts  passed  by  the  Legislature  seldom  went  be 
yond  the  final  enrolled  copy,  and  lawyers  were 
compelled  to  procure  transcripts  of  them.  As  a 
natural  result  many  of  the  local  courts  and  lawyers 

75 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

found  themselves  without  copies.  Jefferson  made 
a  very  valuable  collection  of  all  of  the  Virginia 
laws.  He  found  difficulty  in  procuring  copies  of 
some  of  them, — some  appeared  to  have  perished, 
others  were  written  on  paper  so  rotten  with  age 
that  it  would  crumble  at  the  touch,  and  the  ink 
used  in  others  had  almost  faded  out.  "I  set  myself 
to  work,  therefore,"  he  says,  "  to  collect  all  which 
were  then  existing,  in  order  that  when  the  day 
should  come  in  which  the  public  should  advert  to 
the  magnitude  of  their  loss  in  these  precious  monu 
ments  of  our  property  and  our  history,  a  part  of 
their  regret  might  be  spared  by  information  that 
a  portion  had  been  saved  from  the  wreck,  which 
is  worthy  of  their  attention  and  preservation. 
In  searching  after  these  remains,  I  spared  neither 
time,  trouble,  nor  expense."  Thus  during  the  days 
of  his  practice  he  was  preparing  for  the  duty  of  re 
vision  which  he  was  destined  to  perform,  and  had 
to  furnish  a  greater  part  of  the  copy  used  by  him 
self  and  his  associates.  The  State  owed  the  pres 
ervation  of  its  laws  to  this  careful  young  student. 

The  statutes  were  full  of  absurdities  and  crudi 
ties  and  were  the  instruments  of  oppression  rather 
than  justice.  The  blue  laws  of  Connecticut  were 
forgeries,  but  the  blue  laws  of  Virginia  were  genu 
ine,  and  worse  than  those  of  Connecticut  were  ever 
represented.  The  committee  swept  away  most  of 
the  ancient  code.  Jefferson's  colleagues  were  dis 
posed  to  retain  the  old  doctrine  of  retaliation,  an 
eye  for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,  a  poisoner  to 
be  poisoned,  a  maimer  to  be  maimed  exactly  like 
his  victim.  But  they  yielded  to  his  importunities, 
and  no  sheriff  has  ever  since  been  compelled  to 
pry  out  an  eye  or  bite  off  a  nose. 

During  the  first  month  of  the  work  of  revision 
he  proposed  enough  work  to  keep  the  Legislature 

76 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

busy  for  ten  years.  His  first  bill  established  a 
new  judiciary  for  the  State,  defining  its  powers, 
jurisdiction,  and  rules  of  procedure.  The  next 
fixed  the  terms  upon  which  foreigners  could  be 
admitted  to  citizenship  in  Virginia, — two  years' 
residence,  a  declaration  of  intention  to  live  in  the 
State,  and  an  oath  of  allegiance;  minor  children 
of  naturalized  parents  and  minors  without  parents 
in  the  State  to  become  citizens  on  coming  of  age 
without  legal  formality.  The  principle  of  this  bill 
and  most  of  its  details  have  been  adopted  by  the 
national  government. 

One  of  the  first  of  the  popular  institutions  of 
the  State  to  be  assaulted  by  this  young  and  ener 
getic  reformer  was  the  foundation  of  the  Virginia 
aristocracy,  towards  which  he  had  early  acquired 
a  determined  hostility.  The  colonists  brought  Jrom 
England_with  other  fetiches  the  ^ancient  la\v  of 
entaJLand  p£irnpgemture,  which  prevented  the  di 
vision  of  estates,  excluding  the  daughters  and  all 
the  sons  but  the  eldest  from  sharing  the  property 
of  their  parents.  As  a  consequence  the  best  part 
of  Virginia  was  held  by  a  few  decaying  families 
who  had  neither  the  ability,  the  energy,  nor  the 
capital  to  improve  their  lands,  and  left  no  oppor 
tunity  for  people  of  enterprise  to  add  to  the  wealth 
of  the  State.  The  slaves  went  with  the  land. 
This  left  the  younger  sons  of  a  family  without 
hope  and  drove  them  into  the  professions,  which 
were  already  overcrowded.  After  a  three  weeks' 
struggle  in  the  Legislature,  against  the  opposition 
of  the  aristocracy  of  the  State,  the  primogeniture 
law  was  repealed.  Every  acre  and  every  negro 
in  Virginia  by  the  first  of  November,  1776,  was 
held  in  fee  simple,  could  be  sold  to  any  comer, 
and  was  free  to  fall  into  hands  that  were  able  to 
use  them.  It  was  the  easiest  and  quickest  of  his 

77 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

triumphs,  though  he  did  not  outlive  the  enmity 
his  victory  awakened. 

One  of  the  first  to  suffer  by  the  reform  was  his 
own  son-in-law,  Randolph,  whose  father,  a  brisk 
and  convivial  old  gentleman,  showed  inclinations 
towards  a  second  marriage.  A  girl  in  her  teens 
was  the  object  of  his  affections,  upon  whom  he 
proposed  to  make  so  generous  a  settlement  as  to 
impoverish  his  children  and  throw  them  upon  Jef 
ferson  for  support.  The  latter  wrote  his  daughter 
that  Colonel  Randolph's  marriage  was  a  thing  to 
be  expected,  as  his  amusements  depended  upon 
society  and  he  could  not  live  alone.  The  settle 
ment  upon  the  old  man's  bride  might  be  neither 
prudent  nor  just,  but  he  hoped  that  it  would  not 
lessen  their  affection  for  him. 

The  aristocracy  of  Virginia  were  afterwards  the 
enemies  of  Jefferson  because  of  his  energy  with 
which  he  attacked  the  laws  of  entail  and  caused 
a  social  revolution  in  the  State.  This  class,  whose 
distinction  was  thus  destroyed,  never  forgave  him, 
and  always  hated  and  reviled  him  with  relentless 
animosity, — they  and  the  generations  that  came 
after  them.  Jefferson  explained  that  his  purpose 
was  to  destroy  the  aristocracy  of  wealth  and  make 
an  opening  for  an  aristocracy  of  virtue  and  edu 
cation.  His  assault  upon  the  church  to  which, 
with  all  their  sinfulness,  they  were  loyal,  aggra 
vated  the  case,  for  the  preachers  were  social  as  well 
as  religious  autocrats. 

Among  other  laws  which  Jefferson  omitted  in 
his  revision  of  the  Virginia  Code  was  that  which 
required  a  "  babbling  woman  to  be  punished  by 
ducking,"  "and  if  the  slander  be  soe  enormous 
as  to  be  adjudged  at  a  greater  damage  than  five 
hundred  pounds  of  tobacco,  then  the  woman  is 
to  suffer  a  ducking  for  every  five  hundred  pounds 

78 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

of  tobacco  adjudged  against  the  husband  if  he 
refuse  to  pay  the  tobacco." 

Jefferson's  idea  of  trial  by  jury  was  expressed 
in  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  which  he  said :  "  The 
people  are  not  qualified  to  judge  questions  of  law, 
but  they  are  very  capable  of  judging  questions 
of  fact.  In  the  form  of  juries  therefore,  they  de 
termine  all  matters  of  fact  leaving  to  the  permanent 
judges  to  decide  the  law  resulting  from  those 
facts." 

Jefferson  was  a  determined  opponent  of  the  prac 
tice  of  duelling,  and  condemned  it  on  all  occasions. 
In  the  Crimes  Bill  of  the  State  of  Virginia  he 
arranged  for  the  punishment  of  duelling  by  death, 
and  provided  that  the  body  of  the  challenger  should 
be  hung  on  a  gibbet. 

He  was  strongly  opposed  to  a  life  tenure  for 
the  judiciary.  He  advocated  terms  of  four  or 
six  years  for  judges,  and  removal  by  the  President 
and  Senate.  "  This,"  he  said,  "  will  bring  their 
conduct  at  regular  periods  under  revision  and  pro 
bation."  M 

He  was  especially  preju^oed^a^ainst  the  Su- yr 

preme  Court  ofjhe^nited  States  andLChief-Justice__ 
AlarjH^TT^wrTose  interpretation  of  the  Constitution 
wlJjT^lijilidLt^  hjs_lil^rnp\ He  alludes  frequently 
to  Marshall's  "  twistifications,"  a  word  he  coined 
to  define  his  idea  of  the  latter's  decisions.  He  ac 
cused  Marshall  of  "  rancorous  hatred"  to  the  gov 
ernment  of  his  country,  and  referred  to  "  the  cun 
ning  sophistries  with  which  he  is  able  to  enshroud 
himself."  "The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,"  he  said,  "  can  be  compared  to  a  subtle 
corps  of  sappers  and  miners,  constantly  working 
underground  to  undermine  the  foundation  of  our 
government,  and  the  independent  rights  of  the 
state,  and  to  concentrate  all  power  in  the  hands 

79 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

of  that  government  in  which  they  have  so  impor 
tant  a  free  hold  at  stake."  He  accused  Marshall 
of  trying  to  overawe  Congress,  and  "  to  become 
an  inquisitor  on  the  freedom  of  speech,  of  writing 
and  of  principle." 

Jefferson's  criticism  of  John  Marshall  injured 
his  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  but  it  should  be  re 
membered  that  he  attacked  the  judiciary  as  a  poli 
tician  and  an  intense  partisan,  and  not  as  a  jurist. 
When  the  interpretation  of  the  Constitution  became 
the  subject  of  controversy  he  sought  political  ad 
vantage,  and  Jefferson  the  lawyer  retired  in  favor 
of  Jefferson  the  politician ;  but  when  a  great  emer 
gency  arose  the  politician  retired  and  the  statesman 
appeared  to  assume  responsibilities  and  direct  poli 
cies  which  had  no  place  in  his  political  creed.  This 
disposition  was  illustrated  in  a  remarkable  manner 
by  his  conduct  of  the  Louisiana  purchase. 

Jefferson  was  an  early  and  severe  critic  of  the 
Constitution,  which  was  adopted  during  his  resi 
dence  in  France  and  was  not  sufficiently  radical 
to  meet  the  sentiments  concerning  liberty  which  he 
had  acquired  there  and  which  had  developed  like 
tropical  plants  in  the  heat  of  the  French  Revolu 
tion.  His  letters  to  his  friends  at  home  show  that 
his  first  impressions  were  decidedly  unfavorable, 
and  he  wrote  impulsive  protests  to  Madison  and 
others  containing  reckless  views  that  were  after 
wards  modified.  He  held  that  the  Constitutional 
Convention  had  been  unduly  influenced  by  appre 
hensions  concerning  the  result  of  Shea's  Rebellion, 
and  scoffed  at  the  idea.  He  thought  an  occasional 
rebellion  was  a  good  thing.  "  God  forbid  that  we 
should  be  twenty  years  without  a  rebellion,"  he 
declared  as  he  came  fresh  from  the  guillotine  and 
the  Place  de  la  Concorde.  "  We  have  had  thirteen 
states  independent  for  eleven  years.  There  has 

80 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

been  but  one  rebellion.  That  comes  to  one  rebel 
lion  in  a  century  and  a  half  for  each  state.  What 
country  ever  existed  a  century  and  a  half  without 
a  rebellion.  What  signifies  a  few  lives  lost  in 
a  century  or  two.  The  tree  of  liberty  must  be 
refreshed  from  time  to  time  with  the  blood  of 
patriots  and  tyrants.  It  is  its  natural  manure." 
And  he  refers  contemptuously  to  the  Constitution 
as  "  a  kite  sent  up  to  keep  the  henyard  in  order." 

In  a  letter  to  John  Adams  he  says :  "  How  do 
you  like  our  new  constitution  ?  I  confess  that  there 
are  things  in  it  which  stagger  all  my  dispositions 
to  subscribe  to  what  such  an  assembly  has  pro 
posed.  The  house  of  federal  representatives  will 
not  be  adequate  to  the  management  of  affairs,  either 
foreign  or  federal.  Their  president  seems  a  bad 
edition  of  a  Polish  king.  He  may  be  elected  from! 
four  years  to  four  years  for  life.  Indeed,  I  think 
all  the  good  of  this  constitution  might  have  been 
couched  in  three  or  four  new  articles  to  be  added; 
to  the  good,  old,  and  venerable  fabric,  which  should ; 
have  been  preserved  even  as  a  religious  relique." 

In  a  letter  to  James  Madison  he  says :  "I  will 
now  tell  you  what  I  do  not  like.  Eirst  the  omis 
sion  of  a  bill  of  rights,  providing  clearly  and  with 
out  the  aid  of  sophism,  for  freedom  of  religion, 
freedom  of  the  press,  protection  against  standing 
armies,  restriction  of  monopolies,  the  eternal  and 
unremitting  force  of  the  habeas  corpus  laws  and 
trials  by  jury  in  all  matters  of  fact  triable  by  the 
laws  of  the  land,  and  not  by  the  laws  of  nations. 
Tliesecondjeature  I  dislikey  and  strongly  dislike, 
is  tHearjandonment,  in  every  instance,  of  the  prin 
ciple  of  rotation  in  office." 

Later,  without  recalling  these  intemperate  ut 
terances,  Jefferson  expressed  his  objections  in  more 
statesmanlike  language,   and  reduced  them  to  a 
6  81 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

few  points, — the  omission  of  a  Bill  of  Rights; 
the  failure  to  provide  for  rotation  in  office  and  to 
limit  the  Presidency  to  a  single  term.  He  finally 
concluded  that  it  was  best  to  ratify  the  Constitu 
tion  as  it  was  written,  and  then  amend  it  after 
experience  had  demonstrated  its  weaknesses  and 
defects.  One  of  his  commentators  says  that  he 
regarded  the  Constitution  as  an  experiment  rather 
than  an  achievement.  Finally,  in  1809,  he  became 
satisfied  with  the  results  of  the  experiment  and 
writes  Madison,  "  No  constitution  was  ever  before 
so  well  calculated  as  ours  for  extensive  empire  and 
self  government." 

In  his  biography  of  himself,  prefixed  to  the  first 
volume  of  his  memoirs,  published  after  his  death, 
he  makes  this  explanation:  )"  The  absence  of  ex 
press  declarations  ensuring  freedom  of  religion, 
freedom  of  the  press,  freedom  of  the  person  under 
the  uninterrupted  protection  of  the  habeas  corpus, 
and  trial  by  jury  in  civil  as  well  as  in  criminal 
cases,  excited  my  jealousy;  and  the  re-eligibility 
of  the  president  for  life  I  quite  disapproved.^ 

In  his  interpretation  of  the  general  welfare  clause 
Jefferson  wrote :  "  The  Constitution  says  '  Con 
gress  shall  have  the  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes, 
duties,  imposts  and'  excises,  to  pay  the  debts,  etc., 
provide  for  the  common  defense  and  general  wel 
fare  of  the  United  States.'  I  suppose  the  mean 
ing  of  the  clause  to  be,  that  Congress  may  collect 
taxes  for  the  purpose  of  providing  for  the  general 
welfare,  in  those  cases  wherein  the  constitution 
empowers  them  to  act  for  the  general  welfare. 
To  suppose  that  it  was  meant  to  give  them  a  dis 
tinct  substantive  power,  to  do  any  act  which  might 
tend  to  the  general  welfare  is  to  render  all  the 
enumerations  useless,  and  to  make  their  powers 
unlimited." 

82 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 


Jefferson/S  rerorr[_on  slavery  is 
He  wasja'n  al^Ifionist  in  theory,  but  in  practice 
fie^'jaw  _Id^ffi'culties~"aiTd  ...obstacles  tliat  even  his 
fertile  mind  could  not_overcome.  His  views  were  j»/ 
expressed  in  a  passage  in  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence  which  -was  stricken  out  by  Congress; 
but  he  was  not  in  favor  of  emancipation  unless  the 
slaves  could  be  extirpated,  because  he  did  not 
believe  that  the  whites  and  blacks  would  live  at  . 
peace  with  one  another  if  the  latter  were  ever 
free.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Coloni 
zation  Society,  still  in  existence,  for  the  establish 
ment  of  a  colony  of  American  freedmen  in  Sierra 
Leone,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  whence  they  orig 
inally  came.  He  wrote  a  great  deal  on  the  sub 
ject,  and  argued  that  they  would  not  only  find 
homes  for  themselves,  but  "  would  carry  with  them 
the  seeds  of  civilization  which  might  render  their 
sufferings  here  a  blessing  to  them  and  to  their  de 
scendants."  His  prophetic  mind  foresaw  that  the 
slavery  problem  would  sooner  or  later  bring  dis 
aster  upon  the  South. 

Deeplv^sjefferson  came,  to  hate  slavery,  clearly 
as  JT^_fnrptn1r1  fhp  ruin  pnrlnspH  in  the  system,  lie 

^  ni's  own  nome- 


^ 

He  saw  his  father  patiently  drilling  negroes,  not 
long  from  their  native  Africa,  into  carpenters,  mil 
lers,  wheelwrights,  shoemakers,  and  farmers.  He 
saw  his  mother  of  a  morning  in  her  sitting-room, 
which  was  well  furnished  with  contrivances  for 
facilitating  labor,  seated  with  her  daughters  and 
her  servants,  like  Andromache  surrounded  by  her 
maidens,  all  busy  with  household  tasks. 

It  was  in  his  Notes  on  Virginia  that  he  said 
concerning  slavery  :  "  Indeed,  I  tremble  for  my 
country  when  I  reflect  that  God  is  just,  and  that 
his  justice  can  not  sleep  forever."  '''  The  abolition 

83 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

of  slavery/'  he  said,  "  is  not  impossible,  and  ought 
never  to  be  despaired  of.  Every  plan  should  be 
advocated  and  every  experiment  tried  which  may 
do  something  towards  the  ultimate  object," 

Although  slavery  was  abhorrent  to  him,  he  had 
a  low  opinion  of  the  virtue  and  ability  of  the  col 
ored  race,  and  often  asserted  that  "  nature  herself 
had  made  it  impossible  for  the  two  races  to  live 
happily  together  on  equal  terms."  He  considered 
the  Indian  much  superior  in  mental  capacity,  but 
had  "  never  observed  any  negro  or  negress  with 
one  gleam  of  superior  intelligence,  aptitude  or 
taste.  No  negro  standing  behind  his  master's  chair 
had  ever  caught  from  the  educated  conversation 
of  educated  persons  an  educated  mode  of  thinking. 
Never  could  I  find  that  a  black  had  uttered  a 
thought  above  the  level  of  plain  narration;  and 
I  never  saw  even  an  elementary  trait  of  painting 
or  sculpture."  Yet  to  one  who  defended  slavery 
on  the  theory  of  the  intellectual  superiority  of 
the  white  man  he  said :  "  Whatever  their  degree 
of  talent,  it  is  no  measure  of  their  right.  Because 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  superior  to  others  in  under 
standing,  he  was  not  therefore  lord  of  the  persons 
or  the  property  of  others." 

When  he  was  engaged  with  Wythe  and  Pendle- 
ton  in  the  revision  of  the  statutes  of  Virginia, 
they  first  made  a  digest  of  existing  laws  concerning 
slavery,  silently  dropping  such  as  they  deemed  in 
admissible  and  arranging  the  rest,  as  was  their 
custom,  in  the  form  of  a  bill.  The  subject  they 
resolved  to  keep  by  itself,  designing  to  present  it 
when  the  sentiment  of  the  Legislature  and  the 
public  should  admit  of  the  discussion  of  emanci 
pation  in  a  dispassionate  and  unselfish  manner. 
These  benevolent  revisers  demanded  of  Virginia 
a  degree  of  self-control,  wisdom,  foresight,  and 

84 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

executive  genius  which  the  whole  human  race 
could  not  have  furnished.  By  the  provisions  of 
their  bill  all  slave  children  born  after  the  passage 
of  the  act  were  to  be  free;  but  they  were  to  re 
main  with  their  parents  during  childhood,  and  be 
educated  at  the  public  expense  "  in  tillage,  arts  or 
sciences,  according  to  their  geniuses,  until  matur 
ity,  when  they  were  to  be  colonized  in  some  con 
venient  place,  furnished  with  arms,  implements  and 
seeds,  declared  independent,  and  protected  until 
they  were  strong  enough  to  protect  themselves." 
But  they  never  ventured  to  introduce  this  amend 
ment  into  the  Legislature.  "  It  was  found,"  wrote 
Jefferson  in  1821,  "  that  the  public  mind  would  not 
bear  the  proposition,  nor  will  it  bear  it  even  at  this 
day." 

y  One  thing,  however,  they  did  accomplish.  In 
fi778  Jefferson  brought  in  a  bill  forbidding  the 
Ifurther  importation  of  slaves,  which  was  passed 
^vithout  opposition.  This  was  the  only  important 
change  made  in  the  slave"systempf  Virginia  ci tiring 
tRe^tevblutionary'jperiod.  He  struck  another  blow 
in-€nngress  in  17837  which  again  his  Southern 
colleagues  warded  off.  The  cession  by  Virginia 
of  her  vast  domain  in  the  Northwest,  out  of  which 
several  States  have  been  formed,  was  accepted  by 
Congress;  and  he  drew  a  plan  for  its  temporary 
government.  He  inserted  a  clause  abolishing 
slavery  "  after  the  year  1800  of  the  Christian  era," 
which  was  lost  by  one  vote  in  a  Congress  of 
twenty-three  members,  ten  States  being  repre 
sented.  The  four  New  England  States,  New  York, 
and  Pennsylvania  voted  for  the  clause.  New  Jer 
sey  would  have  favored  it,  but  she  had  only  two 
members,  one  of  whom  was  sick  in  his  chambers. 
South  Carolina,  Maryland,  and  Virginia  voted 
against  it.  North  Carolina  was  divided,  as  would 

85 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

have  been  Virginia  had  not  one  of  her  delegates 
been  sick  in  bed.  Seven  votes  being  required  to 
decide  the  proposition  affirmatively,  it  was  lost, 
and  then  Jefferson  says :  "  Thus  we  see  the  fate 
of  millions  unborn,  hanging  on  the  tongue  of  one 
man,  and  heaven  was  silent  in  that  awful  moment." 
Writing  a  friend  he  said :  "  We  must  await  with 
patience  the  workings  of  an  overruling  Providence 
and  hope  that  it  is  preparing  the  deliverance  of 
these  our  suffering  brethren.  When  the  measure 
of  their  tears  shall  be  full,  when  their  groans  shall 
have  involved  Heaven  itself  in  darkness,  doubtless 
a  God  of  Justice  will  awaken  to  their  distress." 

In  1820  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Lafayette  concerning 
the  Missouri  question  in  which  he  said  :  "  All  know 
that  permitting  the  slaves  of  the  south  to  spread 
into  the  west  will  not  add  one  being  to  that  un 
fortunate  condition,  that  it  will  increase  the  happi 
ness  of  those  existing,  and  by  spreading  them  over 
a  larger  surface,  will  dilute  the  evil  everywhere, 
and  facilitate  the  means  of  getting  finally  rid  of 
it,  an  event  more  anxiously  wished  by  those  on 
whom  it  presses  than  by  the  noisy  pretenders  to 
exclusive  humanity." 

/  Jefferson  never  bought  slaves  on  an  investment. 
He  inherited  thirty,  from  his  father  in  1757,  and 
they  increased  to  fifty-four  by  1774.  The  remain 
der  of  his  slaves  came  to  him  by  ways  other  than 
purchase.  ^[e_.taught  them  trades  in  order  that 
they  might  be  self-supporting  in  case  they  were 
ever  made  free.  A, visitor  at  Monticello  describes 
"  a  cluster  of  little  shops  wherein  his  own  negroes 
carried  on  the  necessary  trades ;  such  as  carpentry, 
cabinet-making,  shoe-making,  tailoring,  weaving. 
The  masonry  of  the  rising  mansion  was  also  exe 
cuted  by  slaves.  There  was  a  mill  upon  the  estate 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  neighborhood.  For 

86 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

many  years  the  making  of  nails  had  been  one  of 
the  winter  industries  of  American  farmers,  all 
nails  being  then  of  the  wrought  description;  Jef 
ferson  too,  had  his  nail  forge,  wherein  a  foreman 
and  half  a  dozen  men  and  boys  hammered  out 
nails  for  the  country  round  about.  When  James 
Monroe  built  his  house  near  by,  it  was  from  his 
former  instructor  that  he  bought  his  nails.  At 
times  Jefferson  had  as  many  as  ten  nailors  at  work, 
two  fires,  and  five  hands  at  each  fire;  and  he  sup 
plies  the  country  stores  far  and  near  with  nails 
at  an  excellent  rate  of  profit.  His  weaving  force 
also  grew  into  a  little  factory  of  60  spindles,  pro 
ducing  cotton  cloth  for  all  his  plantation  as  well 
as  a  redundancy  for  the  village  stores.  Some  of 
his  black  mechanics  on  the  estate  were  among  the 
best  workmen  in  Virginia.  One  man  is  spoken 
of  as  being  a  universal  genius  in  handiwork.  He 
painted  the  mansion,  made  some  of  its  best  furni 
ture,  repainted  the  mill,  and  lent  a  hand  in  that 
prodigious  structure  of  the  olden  time,  a  family 
coach  planned  by  the  master." 

Edward  Bacon,  his  overseer,  says :  "  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  was  always  very  kind  and  indulgent  to 
his  servants.  He  would  not  allow  them  to  be 
at  all  overworked,  and  he  would  hardly  ever  allow 
one  of  them  to  be  whipped.  His  orders  to  me 
were  constant,  that  if  there  was  any  servant  that 
could  not  be  got  along  with  without  the  chastising 
that  was  customary,  to  dispose  of  him.  He  could 
not  bear  to  have  a  servant  whipped  no  odds  how 
much  he  deserved  it.  Mr.  Jefferson  had  a  large  num 
ber  of  favorite  servants,  that  were  treated  just  as 
well  as  could  be.  Burwell  was  the  main  principal 
servant  on  the  place.  He  did  not  go  to  Washington. 
Mr.  Jefferson  had  the  most  perfect  confidence  in  him. 
He  told  me  not  to  be  at  all  particular  with  him — 

87 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

to  let  him  do  pretty  much  as  he  pleased,  and  let 
him  have  pocket  money  occasionally,  as  he  wanted 
it.  He  stayed  at  Monticello,  and  took  charge  of 
the  meat  house,  garden,  etc.,  and  kept  the  premises 
in  order.  Mr.  Jefferson  gave  him  his  freedom 
in  his  will,  and  it  was  right  that  he  should  do 
it.  Mr.  Jefferson  freed  a  number  of  servants  in 
his  will.  I  think  he  would  have  freed  all  of  them, 
if  his  affairs  had  not  been  so  much  involved  that 
he  could  not  do  it.  He  freed  one  little  girl  some 
years  before  he  died,  and  there  was  a  great  deal 
of  talk  about  it.  She  was  nearly  as  white  as  any 
body  and  very  beautiful.  People  said  he  freed  her 
because  she  was  his  own  daughter.  She  was  not 
his  daughter.  When  she  was  nearly  grown,  by 
Mr.  Jefferson's  direction  I  paid  her  stage  fare  to 
Philadelphia  and  gave  her  fifty  dollars.  I  have 
never  seen  her  since  and  don't  know  what  became 
of  her.  From  the  time  she  was  large  enough  she 
had  always  worked  in  the  cotton  factory.  She 
never  did  any  hard  work." 

In  his  will  Jefferson  gave  Burwell,  his  body- 
servant,  who  also  did  the  painting  about  Monti- 
cello,  "  my  good  affectionate  and  faithful  servant, 
his  freedom,  and  $300  to  start  him  in  business 
of  painter  and  glaizer."  Two  other  slaves,  Hen- 
nings,  who  was  a  carpenter,  and  Fosset,  who  was 
a  blacksmith,  were  both  given  their  freedom  and 
tools,  an  acre,  and  money  to  build  a  log  house  on 
an  acre  of  land  near  the  university,  "  where  they 
will  be  mostly  employed,"  and  he  made  arrange 
ments  for  their  employment  before  his  death.  He 
also  gave  John  Hennings  the  services  of  his  two 
sons,  Madison  and  Eston  Hennings,  until  they 
were  of  age,  when  they  were  to  have  their  freedom, 
and  showed  his  anxiety  for  their  future  and  his 
respect  for  the  law  by  adding  to  his  will  this  clause : 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   LAWYER 

"  And  I  humbly  and  earnestly  request  of  the  legis 
lature  of  Virginia  a  confirmation  of  the  bequests 
of  freedom  to  these  servants,  with  permission  to 
remain  in  this  state,  where  their  families  and  con 
nections  are,  as  an  additional  instance  of  the  favor 
of  which  I  have  received  so  many  other  manifes 
tations  in  the  course  of  my  life,  and  for  which  I 
now  give  them  my  last  solemn  and  dutiful  thanks." 


89 


Ill 

JEFFERSON    AS    A    FARMER 

JEFFERSON  always  gave  his  occupation  as  that 
qf__a_farmer,  although  it  was  the  only  one_of  the 
nian^wide  helds  ot  his  activity  in  which  "KJT  abso- 
lutelyTailed ;  and  he  was  willing  to  confess  his 
iailure  by  yielding  the  control  of  his  estates  to 
his  grandson.  He  was  passionately  fond  of  coun 
try  life;  he  was  forever  talking  about  retirement 
from  politics  and  the  enjoyment  of  the  tranquillity 
of  the  farm  and  communion  with  nature.  He 
planned  a  hermitage  at  the  Natural  Bridge  of  Vir 
ginia,  where  he  intended  to  seek  perfect  seclusion 
from  responsibilities  and  cares,  and  never  tired  of 
discussing  the  advantages  enjoyed  by  those  who 
lived  close  to  the  soil.  Jefferson  was  anxious  to 
keep  this  an  agricultural  country.  He  was  opposed 
to  the  introduction  of  manufacturing ,  establish 
ments  and  the  immigration  of  artisans.  "  While 
we  have  land  to  labor,"  he  said,  "  let  us  never  wish 
to  see  our  citizens  kept  at  a  work  bench  or  twirl 
ing  a  distaff.  Carpenters,  masons  and  smiths  are 
wanted  in  husbandry,  but  for  the  general  operation 
of  manufactures  let  our  workshops  remain  in 
Europe."  And  in  a  letter  to  John  Jay  he  said: 
"  I  consider  the  class  of  artificers  as  panderers  of 
vice  and  the  instruments  by  which  the  liberties  of 
a  country  are  generally  overthrown."  \ 

He  abhorred  cities,  and  considered  them  danger 
ous  to  the  public  welfare.  Again  he  said  :  "  Cul 
tivators  of  the  earth  make  the  best  citizens.  They 

90 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   FARMER 

are  the  most  vigorous,  the  most  virtuous  and  the 
most  independant.  They  are  tied  to  their  country, 
and  wedded  to  its  liberty  and  interests  by  the  most 
lasting  bonds.  As  long  therefore  as  they  can  find 
employment  in  this  line  I  would  not  convert  them 
into  mariners,  artisans  or  anything  else." 

:<  The  best  tenants,"  he  wrote  in  his  later  days, 
"  are  foreigners  who  do  not  speak  the  language. 
Unable  to  communicate  with  the  people  of  the 
country  they  confine  themselves  to  their  farms  and 
families,  compare  their  present  state  to  what  it  was 
in  Europe,  and  find  great  reason  to  be  contented. 
Of  all  foreigners,  I  should  prefer  Germans.  They 
are  the  easiest  got,  the  best  for  their  landlords, 
and  do  best  for  themselves."  He  saw  a  providential 
blessing  in  the  yellow  fever  because  "  it  will  dis 
courage  the  growth  of  great  cities  in  our  nation, 
and  I  view  these  great  cities  as  pestilential  to  the 
morals,  to  the  health  and  to  the  liberties  of  man 
kind." 

He  loved  his  garden  and  the  fields,  the  orchards, 
and  his  asparagus  beds.  Every  day  he  rode 
through  his  plantation  and  walked  in  his  gardens. 
In  the  cultivation  of  flowers  he  took  great  pleasure. 
"  One  of  my  early  recollections  is  of  the  attention 
which  he  paid  to  his  flower  beds,"  writes  Mrs. 
Coolidge,  his  granddaughter.  "I  remember  the 
planting  of  the  first  hyacinths  and  tulips  that  came 
from  Europe.  The  bulbs  arrived,  labelled  each  one 
with  a  fancy  name.  There  was  '  Marcus  Aurelius' 
and  the  '  King  of  the  Gold  Mine/  the  '  Roman  Em 
press'  and  the  '  Queen  of  the  Amazons/  '  Psyche/ 
the  '  God  of  Love/  etc.  These  precious  roots  were 
committed  to  the  earth  under  my  grandfather's 
own  eye,  with  his  beautiful  granddaughter  Anne 
standing  by  his  side,  and  a  crowd  of  happy  young 
faces  of  younger  grandchildren,  clustering  round 

91 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

to  see  the  progress,  and  inquire  anxiously  the  name 
of  each  separate  deposit. 

"  Then,  when  spring  returned  how  eagerly  we 
watched  the  first  appearance  of  the  shoots  above 
ground.  Each  root  was  marked  by  its  own  name 
written  on  a  bit  of  stick  by  its  side;  and  what 
joy  it  was  for  one  of  us  to  discover  the  tender 
green  breaking  through  the  mould,  and  run  to 
grandpapa  and  announce  that  we  really  believed 
Marcus  Aurelius  was  coming  up,  or  the  Queen  of 
the  Amazons  was  above  ground.  With  how  much 
pleasure,  compounded  of  our  own  pleasure  and  his 
own,  on  the  new  birth,  he  would  immediately  go 
out  to  verify  the  fact,  and  praise  us  for  our  dili 
gent  watchfulness." 

Captain  Edmund  Bacon,  for  twenty  years  over 
seer  and  business  man  of  Jefferson's  plantation, 
whose  indifference  or  incompetency,  according  to 
Jefferson  himself,  impoverished  his  employer,  left 
interesting  reminiscences  which  were  afterwards 
published  in  a  little  volume.  It  was  injustice  to 
charge  Bacon  with  mismanagement  at  Monticello, 
for  his  employer  wrote  him  the  most  detailed  in 
structions  while  he  was  absent  at  Philadelphia, 
Washington,  and  elsewhere ;  but  Bacon  showed  no 
resentment,  and  to  the  day  of  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1862,  spoke  of  Jefferson  as  the  most 
considerate  and  generous  of  employers.  The  lat 
ter  reciprocated  this  sentiment,  and  when  Bacon 
voluntarily  left  the  plantation  to  seek  his  fortunes 
in  the  new  West,  Jefferson  gave  him  letters  of 
introduction  to  governors,  generals,  and  federal 
officials  everywhere,  and  a  general  commendation 
in  which  he  said,  "  Not  one  man  in  a  thousand 
would  have  done  so  well  for  me  as  Bacon  has 
done.'7  And  in  other  letters  and  membranda  Jef 
ferson  speaks  of  him  with  great  respect  and  con- 

92 


JEFFERSON   AS   A    FARMER 

fidence  as  one  who  would  do  faithfully  and  exactly 
what  he  was  told. 

Jefferson  inherited  from  his  father  nineteen  hun 
dred  acres  of  land,  and  began  the  practice  of  law 
when  he  became  of  age  in  1764.  His  practice  very 
soon  became  extensive,  and  yielded  him  an  income 
of  three  thousand  dollars,  while  from  his  planta 
tion  he  received  about  two  thousand  dollars, 
making  a  sum  total  of  five  thousand  dollars  a 
year.  This  was  a  handsome  income  as  property 
was  then  rated;  for  the  very  best  highlands  of 
Albemarle  were  valued  at  not  more  than  two  dol 
lars  an  acre.  In  1774  he  had  increased  his  estates 
to  five  thousand  acres,  and  several  fine  farms  came 
to  him  with  his  wife. 

The  entire  valley  was  originally  held  by  a  few 
settlers,  Peter  Jefferson,  William  Randolph,  Nich 
olas  Meriwether,  and  Robert  Walker,  who  in  1735 
received  large  grants  of  wild  land  from  the 
crown  which  in  course  of  time  were  divided  into 
farms. 

Jefferson's  birthplace  is  in  sight  of  the  portico 
of  his  mansion.  The  house  in  which  his  father 
and  mother  lived  stood  upon  a  sunny  slope  in  the 
valley  of  the  Rivanna,  which  winds  around  like 
a  silver  ribbon  among  the  hills  of  red  clay.  There 
is  so  much  oxide  of  iron  in  the  soil  that  it  stains 
the  hands  and  looks  almost  the  color  of  crimson. 
The  land  is  lean,  but  the  view  is  superb.  From 
the  cupola  of  the  mansion  you  can  look  into  half 
a  dozen  counties.  The  home  of  President  Monroe, 
known  as  Ashlawn,  lies  about  eight  miles  down 
the  valley;  Madison's  home,  a  few  miles  north, 
was  called  Montpelier. 

Monticello  is  five  hundred  and  eighty  feet  high 
in  the  form  of  a  cone.  It  slopes  eastward  one  and 
a  half  miles  to  the  Rivanna  River.  The  view  ex- 

93 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

tends  about  forty-seven  miles  to  the  Blue  Ridge 
Mountains.  West  and  southwest  is  an  irregular 
range  known  as  the  Ragged  Mountains,  and  at 
their  base  in  full  view  of  Monticello  sits  the  Uni 
versity  of  Virginia.  The  top  of  the  hill  was  lev 
elled  for  a  building-site,  six  hundred  by  two  hun 
dred  feet.  The  landscape  slopes  gently  on  every 
side  from  this  lawn;  one  hundred  feet  from  the 
eastern  end  stands  the  mansion.  With  its  project 
ing  porticos  east  and  west,  the  width  of  the  house 
is  one  hundred  feet  each  way.  It  approaches  on 
either  hand  within  fifty  feet  of  the  brow  of  the 
mountain,  with  which  it  is  connected  by  covered 
ways  ten  feet  wide,  whose  floors  are  level  with 
the  cellars,  and  whose  flat  roofs  form  promenades 
nearly  level  with  the  first  floor  of  the  dwelling. 
These,  turning  at  right  angles  at  the  brow  and 
widening  to  twenty  feet,  extend  one  hundred  feet, 
and  terminate  in  one-story  pavilions  twenty  feet 
square,  the  space  beneath  the  terraces  being  used 
for  business  offices. 

From  the  northern  terrace  the  view  is  superb. 
Here  Jefferson  and  his  guests  were  accustomed 
to  sit  in  the  summer  evenings  until  bedtime.  Here 
perhaps  has  been  assembled  more  patriotism,  wis 
dom,  and  learning  than  in  any  other  garden  in 
America. 

The  mansion  is  of  the  Doric  order  of  Grecian 
architecture,  with  heavy  cornices  and  massive  bal 
ustrades.  The  interior  is  in  the  Ionic  style.  The 
front  hall  recedes  six  feet  within  the  wall  of  the 
building,  and  a  portico,  the  full  height  of  the 
house,  projects  twenty-five  feet  with  stone  pillars 
and  steps.  The  hall  is  also  the  full  height  of  the 
house  and  passages  leading  off  to  other  parts  of  the 
building  terminate  in  octagonal  apartments,  leav 
ing  recesses  on  three  equal  sides.  Piazzas  pro- 

94 


JEFFERSON   AS    A   FARMER 

ject  six  feet  beyond;  their  roofs,  being  the  height 
of  the  house,  rest  on  brick  arches.  The  northern 
piazza  connects  the  house  with  the  public  terrace, 
while  the  southern  is  sashed  in  for  a  greenhouse. 
East  of  the  central  passage,  on  each  side  of  the 
hall,  are  lodging-rooms,  this  front  being  one  and 
a  half  stories.  On  the  west  front  the  rooms  occupy 
the  whole  height,  making  the  house  one  story, 
except  the  parlor  or  central  room,  which  is  sur 
mounted  by  an  octagonal  story  with  a  dome.  This 
was  designed  for  a  billiard-room,  but  before  com 
pletion  a  law  was  passed  prohibiting  public  and 
private  billiard-tables  in  Virginia.  It  was  to  have 
been  approached  by  stairways  connected  with  a 
gallery  at  the  inner  extremity  of  the  hall  which 
communicates  with  the  lodging-rooms  on  either 
side  above,  but  the  use  designed  for  the  room 
being  prohibited,  the  stairways  were  never 
erected. 

The  parlor  projects  twenty  feet  beyond  the  body 
of  the  house  and  is  covered  by  a  portico.  The 
original  plan  of  the  projection  was  square;  but 
when  the  cellar  was  built  up  to  the  floor  above, 
the  room  was  extended  beyond  the  square  by  three 
sides  of  an  octagon,  leaving  a  place  next  to  the 
cellar  wall  not  excavated  where  the  faithful  Caesar 
and  Martin  concealed  their  master's  plate  when 
the  British  visited  Monticello  in  1814.  The  floor 
of  this  room  is  in  squares  of  wild  cherry,  very 
hard,  susceptible  of  a  high  polish,  and  the  color 
of  mahogany.  The  border  of  each  square,  four 
inches  wide,  is  of  light-colored  beech.  After  nearly 
seventy  years  of  use  and  abuse,  a  half  hour's  dust 
ing  and  brushing  will  make  it  look  like  a  handsome 
tessellated  floor. 

Monticello  was  the  finest  mansion  in  that  section 
of  the  State.  Its  hospitality  was  famous,  particu- 

95 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

larly  its  dinners  and  wines,  and  so  were  the 
balls  given  there  in  the  early  days.  The  ball-room 
does  not  suggest  the  conventional  ideas  of  Jeffer- 
sonian  simplicity.  It  is  a  stately  apartment,  with 
Pompeiian  decorations  in  the  frieze  and  a  lofty 
ceiling.  The  dining-room  is  preserved  as  he  left 
it  and  is  equally  appropriate  to  a  man  of  his  tastes, 
position  and  wealth.  It  has  a  curious  dumb-waiter 
for  hoisting  wine  but  too  small  to  carry  more 
than  one  bottle.  The  hall  is  typical  of  hospital 
ity,  high,  spacious,  and  well  lighted,  with  a  gal 
lery  under  the  ceiling  from  which  the  ladies  could 
observe  the  receptions  which  Jefferson  frequently 
gave.  It  furnished  a  retired  place  for  the  band 
when  he  had  a  ball.  The  library  is  not  large,  and 
Jefferson  must  have  scattered  his  thirteen  thousand 
books  which  Congress  bought  throughout  the 
building.  Tradition  says  that  he  kept  many  of 
them  in  the  billiard-room,  which  is  over  tlie  grand 
parlor.  A  billiard-room  does  not  conform  to 
democratic  simplicity  more  readily  than  liveried 
servants,  silver  plate,  and  a  wine-cellar.  Imbedded 
in  the  ceiling  of  the  wide  portico  is  a  curious  com 
pass,  by  which  the  guests  of  the  house  could  tell 
the  geographical  directions,  and  over  the  main  en 
trance  is  an  ugly  old  church-clock. 

The  stairways,  unlike  those  usually  found  in  the 
colonial  mansions  of  Virginia,  are  narrow,  steep, 
and  crooked,  and  the  story  goes  that  the  body  of 
Mrs.  Jefferson,  who  died  in  one  of  the  upper 
chambers,  could  not  be  carried  down.  The  coffin 
had  to  be  lowered  with  ropes  from  the  gallery  of 
the  great  hall.  Jefferson  died  in  a  room  on  the 
first  floor,  which  is  arranged  in  a  peculiar  way. 
The  bed  was  placed  in  a  low  archway  between  two 
rooms  and  fitted  very  closely.  One  of  the  rooms 
belonged  to  Jefferson,  the  other  to  his  wife,  and 

96 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   FARMER 

they  appear  to  have  kept  their  own  apartments 
as  long  as  she  lived.  He  undressed  himself  in 
his  room  and  crawled  into  bed;  and  crawled  out 
on  the  same  side  in  the  morning.  She  dressed 
and  undressed  in  her  own  room  and  crept  in  and 
out  of  her  own  side  of  the  same  bed. 

The  house  at  Monticello  was  thirty-two  years 
in  building.  Begun  in  1770,  it  was  not  finished 
until  1802,  and  cost,  altogether,  according  to  Jef 
ferson's  account-books,  about  seven  thousand  two 
hundred  dollars.  The  bricks  were  not  imported, 
as  many  suppose,  but  were  made  on  the  ground 
by  Jefferson's  own  slaves.  The  ornamental  mate 
rial  was  brought  from  Philadelphia  by  water  to 
Richmond  and  then  hauled  over  in  carts,  but  the 
frame,  the  flooring,  and  most  of  the  wood-work 
was  made  from  timber  cut  and  dressed  on  the 
place.  Every  nail  was  made  on  the  place  by  hand, 
forged  by  his  own  colored  boys. 

It  is  not  true  that  Jefferson  escaped  from  his 
house  through  an  underground  passage  when  the 
British  soldiers  appeared,  as  is  commonly  stated 
in  his  biographies.  There  is  an  underground  pas 
sage  communicating  with  the  slave  quarters,  and 
it  was  used  by  them,  but  the  circumstances  of 
Jefferson's  escape  are  familiar  by  tradition  to  all 
the  old  residents. 

A  man  named  Jack  Jouett,  who  kept  a  hotel  in 
Charlottesville,  was  passing  through  a  neighboring 
village  when  it  was  attacked  by  Major  Tarleton's 
army.  He  rode  rapidly  home,  warned  the  Virginia 
Legislature,  which  was  in  session  at  Charlottes 
ville,  and  then  went  to  Monticello  to  advise  Jeffer 
son.  The  latter  was  unconcerned  as  to  his  danger, 
but  saddled  his  horse,  took  his  sword-cane  and  a 
pair  of  field-glasses,  and  rode  to  the  top  of  Carter's 
Mountain,  which  rises  about  one  thousand  feet 
7  97 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

behind  Monticello.  There  he  remained  nearly  all 
day,  watching  the  approaches  to  Charlottesville, 
but  could  see  nothing  of  the  enemy,  and  towards 
night  started  to  return  to  his  home.  He  had  not 
gone  far  before  he  noticed  that  he  had  lost  his 
cane  and  rode  back  for  it.  As  he  dismounted  to 
pick  it  up  from  the  ground  he  took  one  more 
look  through  his  glasses  and  saw  the  whole  val 
ley  swarming  with  redcoats.  He  rode  down 
the  other  side  of  the  mountain  hastily  and  took 
refuge  in  a  neighboring  county,  where  he  had  an 
estate. 

When  the  advance-guard  of  the  British  troops 
arrived  the  butler  was  hiding  the  silver  under  the 
floor  of  the  dining-room.  He  had  torn  up  some 
of  the  boards,  and  as  the  army  came  nearer  dropped 
down  into  the  cellar  with  the  silver,  while  the 
other  servants  replaced  the  planking.  He  lay  there 
thirty-six  hours  without  food,  guarding  it.  Major 
Tartleton  remained  at  Monticello  about  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  lodged  there,  but  he  had  the  place 
well  protected  and  no  harm  was  done. 

A  charming  picture  of  Monticello  and  its  inmates 
is  found  in  "  Travels  in  North  America,"  by  .the 
Marquis  de  Chastellux,  an  accomplished  French 
nobleman  who  visited  Jefferson.  After  describing 
his  approach  to  the  foot  of  the  mountains  he  says : 
"It  was  a  debt  Nature  owed  to  a  philosopher, 
and  a  man  of  taste,  that  in  his  own  possessions 
he  should  find  a  spot  where  he  might  best  study 
and' enjoy  her.  He  calls  his  house  Monticello  (in 
Italian  "Little  Mountain"),  a  very  modest  title, 
for  it  is  situated  upon  a  very  lofty  one,  but  which 
announces  the  owner's  attachment  to  the  language 
of  Italy;  and,  above  all,  to  the  fine  arts,  of  which 
that  country  was  the  cradle  and  is  still  the  asylum. 
My  object  in  this  short  description  is  only  to  show 

98 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   FARMER 

the  difference  between  this  and  the  other  houses 
of  the  country,  for  we  may  safely  aver  that  Mr. 
Jefferson  is  the  first  American  who  has  consulted 
the  fine  arts  to  know  how  he  should  shelter  him 
self  from  the  weather." 

The  Duke  la  Rochefoucauld-Liancourt,  lieuten 
ant-general  of  France,  and  once  president  of  the 
National  Assembly,  spent  a  month  at  Monticello 
as  Jefferson's  guest  during  his  exile,  and  gives  an 
interesting  account  of  his  visit.  He  says  that 
Monticello  "  is  infinitely  superior  to  all  other 
houses  in  America  in  point  of  taste  and  conveni 
ence,  and  deserves  to  be  ranked  with  the  most 
pleasant  mansions  in  France  and  England,"  and 
then  he  gives  us  the  following  picture  of  Jefferson 
at  home : 

"  In  private  life,  Mr.  Jefferson  displays  a  mild, 
easy  and  obliging  temper,  though  he  is  somewhat 
cold  and  reserved.  His  conversation  is  of  the  most 
agreeable  kind,  and  he  possesses  a  stock  of  infor 
mation  not  inferior  to  that  of  any  other  man.  In 
Europe  he  would  hold  a  distinguished  rank  among 
men  of  letters,  and  as  such  he  has  already  ap 
peared  there.  At  present  he  is  employed  with 
activity  and  perseverance  in  the  management  of 
his  farms  and  buildings;  and  he  orders,  directs, 
and  pursues  in  the  minutest  details  every  branch 
of  business  relative  to  them.  I  found  him  in  the 
midst  of  the  harvest,  from  which  the  scorching 
heat  of  the  sun  does  not  prevent  his  attendance. 
His  negroes  are  nourished,  clothed,  and  treated 
as  well  as  white  servants  could  be.  As  he  can  not 
expect  any  assistance  from  the  two  small  neighbor 
ing  towns,  every  article  is  made  on  his  farm ;  his 
negroes  are  cabinetmakers,  carpenters,  masons, 
bricklayers,  smiths,  etc.  The  children  he  employs 
in  a  nail  factory,  which  yields  already  a  consider- 

99 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

able  profit.  The  young  and  old  negresses  spin  for 
the  clothing  of  the  rest.  He  animates  them  by 
rewards  and  distinctions ;  in  fine,  his  superior  mind 
directs  the  management  of  his  domestic  concerns 
with  the  same  abilities,  activity  and  regularity 
which  he  evinced  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs 
and  which  he  is  calculated  to  display  in  every  situa 
tion  of  life.  In  the  superintendence  of  his  house 
hold  he  is  assisted  by  his  two  daughters,  Mrs. 
Randolph  and  Miss  Maria,  who  are  handsome, 
modest,  and  amiable  women.  They  have  been 
educated  in  France." 

In  the  summer  of  1825  the  monotonous  life  at 
Monticello  was  broken  in  upon  by  the  arrival  of 
General  Lafayette  to  take  leave  of  his  distinguished 
friend,  Jefferson,  preparatory  to  his  return  to 
France.  A  dinner  was  given  to  him  by  the  pro 
fessors  and  students  of  the  university,  at  which 
Madison  and  Monroe  were  present,  but  Jefferson 
was  too  feeble  to  attend.  It  is  not  often  that 
so  distinguished  a  company  has  gathered  at  a 
farmhouse  as  the  three  ex-Presidents  and  their 
guest. 

Bacon  says :  "  It  used  to  be  very  interesting  to 
the  people  to  see  three  ex-Presidents  together.  I 
have  often  seen  them  meet  at  Charlottesville  on 
Court  Day,  and  stand  and  talk  together  a  few  min 
utes,  and  crowds  of  people  would  gather  around 
them  and  listen  to  their  conversation  and  follow 
them  wherever  they  would  go." 

The  lawn  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  house  at  Mon 
ticello  contains  not  quite  an  acre.  On  this  spot  was 
the  meeting  of  Jefferson  and  Lafayette,  as  described 
by  Mrs.  Randolph,  who  says  :  "  The  barouche  con 
taining  Lafayette  stopped  at  the  end  of  this  lawn. 
His  escort — one  hundred  and  twenty  mounted  men 
— formed  on  one  side  in  a  semicircle  extending 


JEFFERSON   AS  A   FARMER 

from  the  carriage  to  the  house.  A  crowd  of  about 
two  hundred  men,  who  were  drawn  together  by 
curiosity  to  witness  the  meeting  of  these  two  ven 
erable  men,  formed  themselves  in  a  semicircle  on 
the  opposite  side.  As  Lafayette  descended  from 
the  carriage,  Jefferson  descended  to  the  steps  of 
the  portico.  The  scene  which  followed  was  touch 
ing.  Jefferson  was  feeble  and  tottering  with  age — 
Lafayette  permanently  lamed  and  broken  in  health 
by  his  long  confinement  in  the  dungeon  of  Olmutz. 
As  they  approached  each  other,  their  uncertain 
gait  quickened  itself  into  a  shuffling  run,  and  ex 
claiming,  '  Ah,  Jefferson !'  '  Ah,  Lafayette !'  they 
burst  into  tears  as  they  fell  into  each  other's  arms. 
Among  the  four  hundred  men  witnessing  the  scene 
there  was  not  a  dry  eye — no  sound  save  an  occa 
sional  suppressed  sob.  The  two  old  men  entered 
the  house  as  the  crowd  dispersed  in  profound  si 
lence." 

"  Mr.  Jefferson  was  the  most  industrious  per 
son  I  ever  saw  in  my  life,"  continues  Bacon.  "  I 
never  went  into  his  room  but  twice  in  the  whole 
twenty  years  I  was  with  him  that  I  did  not  find 
him  employed.  I  never  saw  him  sitting  idle  in 
his  room  but  twice.  Once  he  was  suffering  from 
a  toothache;  and  once  in  returning  from  his 
Bedford  farm,  he  had  slept  in  a  room  where 
some  of  the  glass  had  been  broken  out  of  the 
window,  and  the  wind  had  blown  upon  him  and 
given  him  a  kind  of  neuralgia.  At  all  other 
times  he  was  either  reading,  writing,  talking, 
working  upon  some  model  or  doing  something 
else. 

"  I  have  heard  him  tell  them  enough  of  times 
that  nobody  should  live  without  some  useful  em 
ployment.  'He  told  them  my  boys  had  got  twenty 
dollars — more  money  than  any  of  them  had  got; 

101 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

that  they  had  earned  it  themselves,  and  said  a  great 
deal  in  their  praise,  and  in  regard  to  the  impor 
tance  of  industrious  habits,  Merriweather  Lewis 
was  a  very  bright  little  fellow.  He  spoke  up  and 
said :  '  If  we  should  work  like  Fielding  and 
Thomas,  our  hands  would  get  so  rough  and  sore 
that  we  could  not  hold  our  books.  And  we  need 
not  work  so.  We  shall  be  rich,  and  all  we  want 
is  a  good  education,  so  that  we  shall  be  prepared 
to  associate  with  wealthy  and  intelligent  people.' 
1  Ah !'  said  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  I  have  thought  of 
the  remark  a  thousand  times  since,  '  those  that  ex 
pect  to  get  through  the  world  without  industry, 
because  they  are  rich,  will  be  greatly  mistaken. 
The  people  that  do  the  work  will  soon  get  posses 
sion  of  all  their  property/  ' 

The  parents  of  Edward  Coles,  the  first  Governor 
of  Illinois,  were  near  neighbors  and  intimate 
friends  of  the  Jeffersons.  For  Mrs.  Coles,  who 
was  a  woman  of  great  personal  and  intellectual 
attraction,  Jefferson  showed  great  affection,  which 
was  inherited  by  her  son.  He  was  Jefferson's 
protege,  was  assisted  by  him  to  obtain  an  educa 
tion  at  William  and  Mary  College,  graduated  in 
the  class  of  1807,  served  for  a  time  as  his  private 
secretary  and  afterwards  as  private  secretary  to 
President  Madison  upon  his  recommendation,  and 
through  Jefferson's  influence  was  made  Governor 
of  Illinois. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1824  Daniel  Web 
ster  visited  Monticello  and  spent  a  day  or  two  there. 
He  has  left  us  an  account  of  this  visit,  containing 
the  most  minute  and  interesting  description  ever 
printed  of  Jefferson's  personal  appearance,  style 
of  dress,  and  habits.  He  says : 

"  Mr.  Jefferson  is  now  between  eighty-one  and 
eighty-two,  above  six  feet  high,  of  an  ample  long 

102 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   FARMER 

frame,  rather  thin  and  spare.  His  head,  which  is 
not  peculiar  in  its  shape,  is  set  rather  forward  on 
his  shoulders;  and  his  neck  being  rather  long, 
there  is,  when  he  is  walking  or  conversing,  an 
habitual  protrusion  of  it.  It  is  still  well  covered 
with  hair,  which,  having  been  once  red,  and  now 
turning  gray,  is  of  an  indistinct  sandy  color.  His 
eyes  are  small,  very  light,  and  now  neither  bril 
liant  nor  striking.  His  chin  is  rather  long  but  not 
pointed.  His  nose  small,  regular  in  its  outlines, 
and  the  nostrils  a  little  elevated.  His  mouth  is 
well  formed,  and  still  filled  with  teeth;  it  is 
strongly  compressed,  wearing  an  expression  of 
contentment  and  benevolence.  His  complexion, 
formerly  light  and  freckled,  now  bears  the  marks 
of  age  and  cutaneous  affection.  His  limbs  are  un 
commonly  long,  his  hands  and  feet  very  large, 
and  his  wrists  of  an  extraordinary  size.  His  dress, 
when  in  the  house,  is  a  gray  surtout  coat,  kersey 
mere  stuff  waistcoat,  with  an  under  one  faced  with 
some  material  of  dingy  red.  His  pantaloons  are 
very  long  and  loose,  and  of  the  same  color  as  his 
coat.  His  stockings  are  woolen,  either  white  or 
gray;  and  his  shoes  of  the  kind  that  bear  his 
name.  His  whole  dress  is  very  much  neglected 
but  not  slovenly.  He  wears  a  common  round  hat. 
His  dress,  when  on  horseback,  is  a  gray,  straight- 
bodied  coat,  and  a  spencer  of  the  same  material, 
both  fastened  with  large  pearl  buttons.  When  we 
first  saw  him  he  was  riding;  and  in  addition  to 
the  above  articles  of  apparel,  wore  around  his 
throat  a  knit  white  woolen  tippet  in  the  place  of 
a  cravat,  and  black  velvet  gaiters  under  his  panta 
loons.  His  general  appearance  indicates  an  extra 
ordinary  degree  of  health,  vivacity  and  spirit.  His 
sight  is  still  good,  for  he  needs  glasses  only  in 
the  evening.  His  hearing  is  generally  good,  but 

103 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

a  number  of  voices  in  animated  conversation  con 
fuse  it. 

"  Mr.  Jefferson  rises  in  the  morning  as  soon  as 
he  can  see  the  hands  of  his  clock,  which  is  directly 
opposite  his  bed,  and  examines  his  thermometer 
immediately,  as  he  keeps  a  regular  meteorological 
diary.  He  employs  himself  chiefly  in  writing  until 
breakfast,  which  is  at  nine.  From  that  time  till 
dinner  he  is  in  his  library,  excepting  that  in  fair 
weather  he  rides  on  horseback  from  seven  to  four 
teen  miles.  Dines  at  four,  returns  to  the  drawing 
room  at  six,  when  coffee  is  brought  in,  and  passes 
the  evening  in  conversation  until  nine.  His  habit 
of  retiring  at  that  hour  is  so  strong  that  it  has 
become  essential  to  his  health  and  comfort.  His 
diet  is  simple,  but  he  seems  restrained  only  by  his 
taste.  His  breakfast  is  tea  and  coffee,  bread  always 
fresh  from  the  oven,  of  which  he  does  not  seem 
afraid,  with  sometimes,  a  slight  accompaniment  of 
cold  meat.  He  enjoys  his  dinner  well,  taking  with 
his  meat  a  large  proportion  of  vegetables.  He  has 
a  strong  preference  for  the  wines  of  the  Continent, 
of  which  he  has  many  sorts  of  excellent  quality, 
having  been  more  than  commonly  successful  in  his 
mode  of  importing  and  preserving  them." 

Webster's  narrative  did  not  please  the  family, 
and  Mrs.  Coolidge,  a  granddaughter,  took  occa 
sion  to  correct  his  account  of  Jefferson's  personal 
appearance.  She  said: 

"  His  dress  was  simple,  and  adapted  to  his  ideas 
of  neatness  and  comfort.  He  paid  little  attention 
to  fashion,  wearing  whatever  he  liked  best,  and 
sometimes  blending  the  fashions  of  several  different 
periods.  He  wore  long  waistcoats,  when  the  mode 
was  for  very  short ;  white  cambric  stocks  fastened 
behind  with  a  buckle,  when  cravats  were  universal. 
He  adopted  the  pantaloons  very  late  in  life,  be- 

104 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   FARMER 

cause  he  found  it  more  comfortable  and  convenient, 
and  cut  off  his  queue  for  the  same  reason.  He 
made  no  change  except  from  motives  of  the  same 
kind,  and  did  nothing  to  be  in  conformity  with  the 
fashion  of  the  day.  He  considered  such  indepen 
dence  as  the  privilege  of  his  age." 

Monticello  is  preserved  with  thoughtful  and 
patriotic  solicitude  by  Mr.  Jefferson  Levy,  the  pres 
ent  owner,  who  is  a  New  York  lawyer  and  served 
a  term  in  Congress.  After  the  Sage  of  Monti- 
cello  died  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Randolph,  was  left 
destitute,  and  being  unable  to  keep  up  appearances 
upon  property  that  was  unproductive,  traded  it 
to  a  man  named  Barkley  for  a  modest  brick  house 
in  Charlottesville.  Barkley  carried  on  a  desperate 
struggle  for  years,  but  the  land  was  worn  out, 
and  he  had  not  capital  enough  to  replenish  it,  so 
he  offered  it  for  sale. 

According  to  the  local  traditions,  Commodore 
Levy,  who  was  then  on  the  retired  list  of  the  navy, 
while  in  Boston  learned  that  Mr.  T.  Jefferson  Cool- 
idge,  a  son  of  Ellen  Randolph,  Jefferson's  grand 
daughter,  was  negotiating  for  the  purchase  of 
Monticello.  The  commodore  was  a  great  admirer 
of  Jefferson,  as  well  as  a  man  of  enterprise,  so 
he  jumped  on  the  cars,  rushed  to  Charlottesville, 
and  bought  the  place  for  ten  thousand  dollars. 
Several  times  thereafter  he  offered  it  to  the  govern 
ment  and  to  various  patriotic  societies,  but  his 
price  was  too  high.  As  will  be  seen,  he  even  found 
it  difficult  to  get  rid  of  when  he  died. 

A  full-length  portrait  of  Commodore  Levy  hangs 
in  the  great  hall  at  Monticello.  In  his  hand  he 
holds  a  scroll  upon  which  is  inscribed  an  announce 
ment  that  he  abolished  flogging  in  the  United 
States  navy,  but  the  naval  authorities  award  that 
honor  to  Commodore  Robert  Field  Stockton,  who 

105 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

was  not  only  a  seaman,  but  a  statesman.  Stockton 
commanded  the  United  States  fleet  in  the  Pacific 
during  the  Mexican  War,  and  was  the  first  Gov 
ernor  of  California.  In  1851  he  resigned  from 
the  navy  and  was  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate  from  New  Jersey,  where  he  made  it  his 
business  to  secure  the  enactment  of  a  law  prohibit 
ing  the  corporeal  punishment  of  sailors.  Never 
theless,  Commodore  Levy  is  believed  to  have  an 
ticipated  this  law  by  forbidding  flogging  upon  the 
ships  in  his  fleet. 

Comrnodore  Levy  presented  to  Congress  the 
bronze  statue  of  Jefferson  now  in  the  Capitol,  and 
when  he  died  he  bequeathed  the  estate  of  Monti- 
cello  to  the  government  of  the  United  States  as  a 
home  and  school  for  the  children  of  warrant  offi 
cers  of  the  navy.  If  the  government  would  not 
accept,  it  was  offered  to  the  State  of  Virginia 
under  the  same  conditions.  If  the  State  refused, 
it  was  bequeathed  to  the  rabbi  and  congregation 
of  a  synagogue  in  Richmond,  with  a  sum  of  money 
for  charitable  purposes.  The  United  States  de 
clined  the  responsibility,  and  the  heirs  at  law  con 
tested  the  will.  When  the  case  came  to  trial  in 
New  York  in  1862  the  war  was  on,  so  that  neither 
the  State  of  Virginia  nor  the  Richmond  synagogue 
was  represented.  The  court  ordered  the  property 
sold  at  auction,  Jefferson  Levy,  a  nephew  and  one 
of  the  heirs,  bid  it  in,  and  the  proceeds  were  di 
vided  with  the  rest  of  the  estate. 

Jefferson  frankly  confessed  that  he  was  a  failure 
as  a  farmer.  "  I  am,  indeed,  an  unskillful  manager 
of  my  farms,"  he  wrote  in  1816,  "  and  sensible  of 
this  from  its  effects  I  have  now  committed  them 
to  better  hands,"  his  grandson,  Thomas  Jefferson 
Randolph.  "  On  returning  home  after  an  absence 
of  ten  years  I  found  my  farms  so  much  deranged 

106 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   FARMER 

that  I  saw  evidently  they  would  be  a  burden  to 
me  instead  of  a  support  till  I  could  regenerate 
them;  and,  consequently,  that  it  was  necessary 
for  me  to  find  some  other  resource  in  the  mean 
time.  I  thought  for  a  while  of  taking  up  the 
manufacture  of  potash,  which  requires  but  small 
advances  of  money.  I  concluded  at  length,  how 
ever,  to  begin  a  manufacture  of  nails,  which  needs 
little  or  no  capital,  and  I  now  employ  a  dozen  little 
boys  from  ten  to  sixteen  years  of  age,  overlooking 
all  the  details  of  their  business  myself,  and  drawing 
from  it  a  profit  on  which  I  can  get  along  till  I 
can  put  my  farms  into  a  course  of.  yielding  profit. 
My  new  trade  of  nail-making  is  to  me  in  this  coun 
try  what  an  additional  title  of  nobility  or  the  en 
signs  of  a  new  order  are  in  Europe." 

Bacon  says  that  Jefferson  always  knew  all  about 
everything  on  the  plantation.  "  He  knew  the  name 
of  every  tree,  just  when  one  was  dead  or  needed 
nursing."  He  even  told  Bacon  what  pigs  to  kill, 
for  he  had  names  for  them  all. 

In  his  letters  he  gives  the  most  minute  instruc 
tions,  not  only  concerning  what  is  to  be  done,  but 
by  whom  and  how  to  do  it.  He  had  his  own  ways 
and  was  very  tenacious  as  to  details.  He  planned 
for  each  field.  "  A  part  of  the  field,"  he  once 
wrote,  naming  it,  "  is  to  be  planted  in  quarantine 
corn,  which  will  be  found  in  a  tin  cannister  in 
my  closet.  This  corn  is  to  be  in  drills  five  feet 
apart  and  the  stocks  eighteen  inches  asunder  in 
the  drills.  The  rest  of  the  ground  is  to  be  sown 
in  oats  and  red  clover  sowed  on  the  oats.  All 
plowing  is  to  be  done  horizontally  as  Mr.  Ran 
dolph  does  his,"  and  he  assigns  the  slaves  to  their 
labor :  "  Joe  will  work  with  Mr.  Stewart ;  John 
Hennings  and  Lewis  will  work  with  Mr.  Dins- 
more;  Stewart  and  Joe  will  do  plantation  work, 

107 


THE  TRUE  THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

and  when  Stewart  gets  into  his  idle  frolics  it  may 
sometimes  be  well  for  Moses  or  Isabel's  Davy 
to  join  Joe.  Davy  and  Abram  may  patch  up  the 
old  garden  pales  when  work  is  going  on  from 
which  they  can  be  spared." 

"  As  soon  as  the  aspen  trees  lose  their  leaves," 
he  says  in  another  letter,  "  take  up  one  or  two 
hundred  of  the  young  trees,  tie  them  into  bundles 
with  their  roots  well  covered  with  Straw.  Young 
Davy  is  to  carry  Fanny  to  Washington.  Three 
boxes  in  my  study  marked  go  by  Fanny  and  her 
things.  She  must  take  corn  for  the  mules  and 
provisions  for  themselves  to  Washington.  The 
Nailors  are  to  work  on  the  dam  till  finished  and 
then  go  to  the  shop  when  the  work  on  the  mill  is 
done  and  the  fence  mended,  take  as  much  time 
as  you  with  your  hands  as  will  fill  all  the  gullies 
in  the  north  field." 

In  another  letter :  "  The  orchard  below  the 
garden  must  be  entirely  cultivated  next  year,  to 
wit,  a  part  in  ravens  kroft  pea,  which  you  will 
find  in  a  cannister  in  my  closet;  a  part  with  Irish 
potatoes;  the  rest  with  cow  peas  of  which  there 
is  a  patch  at  Mr.  Freeman's,  to  save  which  great 
attention  should  be  paid  as  they  are  the  last  in 
the  neighborhood.  Wormley  must  cover  the  fig 
bushes  with  straw  rope.  Keep  the  thorns  con 
stantly  clean  wed.  Stop  the  leak  under  the  bridge 
just  above  the  waste.  Rake  and  sweep  the  char 
coal  on  its  level  into  little  heaps  and  carry  them  off. 
Do  this  when  the  grass  seed  is  ripe." 

Thus  writes  the  President  of  the  United  Stages 
to  his  overseer  in  the  midst  of  controversies  over 
the  Constitution,  the  finances,  the  annexation  of 
territory,  and  complications  with  foreign  powers, 
and  then  holds  him  to  strict  accountability  in  fol 
lowing  every  detail.  Bacon  says  that  Jefferson 

1 08 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   FARMER 

never  forgot  an  order  he  had  given  to  one  of  his 
men,  and  "never  failed  to  remember  the  man  he 
gave  it  to,  so  that  no  matter  how  long  a  time  might 
pass,  no  one  could  shirk  responsibility." 

"  Mr.  Jefferson  was  very  particular  in  the  trans 
action  of  all  his  business,"  he  says.  "  He  kept 
an  account  of  everything.  Nothing  was  too  small 
for  him  to  keep  an  account  of.  He  knew  exactly 
how  much  of  everything  was  raised  at  each  planta 
tion,  and  what  became  of  it;  how  much  was  sold 
and  how  much  fed  out.  I  reported  to  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  every  dollar  that  I  received  and  just  what  I 
paid  it  out  for.  The  first  day  of  every  January 
I  gave  him  a  full  list  of  all  the  servants,  stock 
and  everything  on  the  place,  so  that  he  could  see 
exactly  what  had  been  the  gain  or  loss.  In  all 
his  business  transactions  with  people  he  had  every 
thing  put  down  in  writing  so  that  there  was  no 
chance  for  any  misunderstanding.  Nearly  all  the 
families  in  Milton  were  supplied  with  firewood 
from  Mr.  Jefferson's  estate.  They  paid  him  five 
dollars  a  year  for  what  wood  they  would  burn  in 
a  fireplace.  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  a  blank  form  for 
me  and  I  made  a  written  contract  with  all  the 
people  who  got  their  firewood  from  this  place 
and  once  a  year  I  went  around  and  made  collec 
tions. 

"  Whenever  I  engaged  an  overseer  for  him  or 
any  kind  of  a  mechanic,  I  always  made  a  written 
contract  with  him  that  stated  just  what  he  was 
to  do  and  just  what  pay  he  was  to  receive.  In 
this  way  he  avoided  all  difficulties  with  the  men 
he  employed.  Here  is  one : 

"  It  is  agreed  between  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Richard 
Durrett,  both  of  the  county  of  Albemarle,  that  the  said  Dur- 
rett  shall  serve  the  said  Jefferson  one  year  as  a  carpenter. 
And  the  said  Durrett  does  by  these  presents  oblige  himself 
to  do  whatever  work  the  said  Jefferson  shall  require  in  the 

109 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

business  of  carpenter  work;  and  the  said  Durrett  shall  take 
charge  of  the  said  Jefferson's  employ;  for  which  year's 
service  the  said  Jefferson  agrees  to  pay  the  said  Durrett 
forty  pounds  and  to  find  him  four  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
of  pork  and  a  peck  of  corn  meal  a  week ;  or,  in  case  the 
said  Durrett  should  have  three  in  family,  the  said  Jefferson 
agrees  to  find  him  three  pecks  a  week,  and  to  find  him  a 
cow  to  give  milk  from  April  isth  to  I5th  November.  As 
witness  our  hands  this  28th  of  October,  1812.' " 


In  1800  a  census  was  taken,  the  results  of  which, 
with  his  habitual  care,  Jefferson  records  in  his 
diary : 


"1800 

Aug.  23     Census  of  my  family  now  given  in : 

Males   free  white   under   10    2       females  do  2  =  4 

of  10  &  under  16                        I  o       I 

of  16  &  under  26                        3  14 

26  and  under  45                         I  o       I 

45   and   upward                           I  o       I 

All  other  free  persons  o 

Slaves  93 

104' 


Jefferson  must  have  parted  with  or  lost  many 
slaves  during  the  year  preceding  this  census,  be 
cause  another  memorandum  in  his  handwriting 
shows  that  in  the  winter  of  1798-9  he  had  one 
hundred  and  forty-one  slaves,  but  such  an  aged  lot 
of  negroes  as  they  were  must  sooner  or  later  have 
ruined  any  farmer.  Fifty  of  them  were  over 
ninety  years  of  age,  and  of  the  entire  one  hundred 
and  forty-one  only  eleven  were  certainly  under 
fifty.  Between  1784  and  1794  he  gave  sixty-six 
slaves  to  his  children. 

His  expenses  as  set  down  in  his  account-books 
are  regularly  analyzed  at  the  close  of  the  quarter 
or  the  year,  sometimes  both,  and  the  results  given 
in  separate  tables;  as,  for  instance,  at  the  close 

no 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   FARMER 

of  the  first  quarter  of  the  year  1791  we  find  under 
date  of  April  8  the  following : 

"Analysis  of  Expenditures  of  the  last  quarter  from 
Jan  8  to  April  8  inclusive : 

"House  rent.    .    .  115.58  Receipts. 

Stable  expenses  96.85  D. 

Servants  ....  65.  5  Jan       7  Salary    .    .    875* 

Dress 70.82  Feby    4  Hopkinson    120 

Washing  ....  20.23  16  Johnson     .      31.55 

Stores 69.65  April    4  Salary    .    .    875 

Baker 11.76  Errors    .    .        5.71 

Grocer 35.21  Iqo7  26" 

Market     ....  88.39 

Wood 70.81 

Furniture     .   .    .  271.38 

Arrearages  pd  up  552.65 

Contingencies     .  260.22 

Total  paid  .    .  1729.05 

Cash  in  hand  .  64.53 

In  bank    .   .   .  113.68 
1907.26 

It  is  worth  noting  as  an  illustration  of  Jefferson's 
system  of  financial  management  that  he  is  com 
pelled  to  include  in  this  account  two  quarters' 
salary  to  balance  the  expenses  of  a  single  quarter. 
His  expense-books  have  more  the  character  of 
diaries  than  of  account-books.  They  are  full  of 
memoranda  which  have  nothing  to  do  with  his 
finances,  for  example: 


"  Mr  Remsen  tells  me  that  6  cord  of  hiccory  last  a  fire 
place  well  the  winter. 

"  Myrtle  candles  of  last  year  out. 

"  Pd  Farren  an  impudent  surcharge  for  Venetn  blinds 
2.66. 

"  Borrowed  of  Mr  Maddison  order  on  bank  for  i5oD. 

"  Enclosed  to  D.  Rittenhouse,  Liepers  note  of  238"  D  out 
of  which  he  is  to  pay  for  equatorial  instrument  for  me. 

"  Hitzeimer  says  that  a  horse  well  fed  with  grain  re 
quires  100  Ib  of  hay  and  without  grain  130  Ib. 

"  T.  N.  Randolph  has  had  9  galls  whiskey  for  his  harvest. 
in 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

"  My  first  pipe  of  Termo  is  out  begun  soon  after  I  came 
home  to  live  from  Philadelphia. 

"  Reed  from  Rand.  Jefferson  a  negro  boy  Ben,  Peters  son 
who  is  to  be  valued  by  John  Coles  &  James  Cooke  &  I  am  to 
pay  the  valuation  to  Donald  &  Co  in  discharge  of  their  acct 
agt  him. 

"  Agreed  with  Robt.  Chuning  to  serve  me  as  overseer  at 
Monticello  for  £25  and  600  Ib  pork  he  is  to  come  Dec.  I. 

"  Agreed  with Bohlen  to  give  300  livres  tournois  for 

my  bust  made  by  Ceracchi  if  he  shall  agree  to  take  that 
sum.  . 

"  Col.  Coles  &  Mr  Cooke  have  valued  the  two  boys  I 
bought  from  Randolph  Jefferson,  Carey  &  Ben  at  £155. 

"  My  daughter  Maria  married  this  day. 
"  March  16    The  first  shad  at  this  market  to-day 

28    The  weeping  willow  shows  the  green  leaf 
"  April      9    Asparagus  come  to  table 
10    Apricots  blossom. 

12  Genl.  Thaddeus  Kosciusko  puts  into  my  hands 
a  Warrant  of  the  Treasury  for  3684.540  to 
have  bills  of  exchange  bought  for  him. 

"  March  8  Tea  out,  the  pound  has  lasted  exactly  7  weeks, 
used  6  times  a  week ;  this  is  ^8T  or  .4  of  an  oz.  a  time  for  a 
single  person.  A  pound  of  tea  making  126  cups  costs  2D, 
126  cups  or  ounces  of  coffee  =  8  Ib  cost  1.6. 

"March  18  On  trial  it  takes  n  dwt  Troy  of  double 
refined  maple  sugar  to  a  dish  of  coffee,  or  i  Ib  avoirdupois 
to  26.5  dishes  so  that  at  20  cents  pr  Ib  it  is  8  mills  per  dish. 
An  ounce  of  coffee  @  20  cents  pr  Ib  is  12.5  mills  so  that 
sugar  and  coffee  of  a  dish  is  worth  2  cents." 


Among  his  papers  is  a  leaf  thus  entitled: 
"  Statement  of  the  vegetable  market  of  Washing 
ton  during  a  period  of  eight  years,  wherein  the 
earliest  and  latest  appearance  of  each  article  within 
the  whole  eight  years  was  noted."  One  small 
page  suffices,  but  it  is  complete;  the  list  embraces 
thirty-seven  articles  carefully  set  down  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States. 

In  1792  Jefferson  asked  "  the  favor  of  Mr.  Hol- 
lingsworth  to  look  out  for  a  person  in  his  neigh 
borhood  who  would  be  willing  to  go  to  Virginia 
and  overlook  a  farm  for  me,"  and  was  informed 
that  Samuel  Biddle  would  undertake  the  job  for 
a  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  a  year.  Jefferson 

112 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   FARMER 

said  that  the  wages  were  a  good  deal  higher  than 
he  expected  to  pay,  but  he  consents  to  give  them 
providing  Mr.  Biddle  will  look  after  some  matters 
"  beyond  the  lines  of  the  farm/'  and  says  "  the 
farm  is  of  about  5  or  600  acres  of  cleared  land, 
very  hilly,  originally  as  rich  as  any  highlands  in 
the  world,  but  much  worried  by  Indian  corn  and 
tobacco.  It  is  still  however  very  strong,  &  re 
markably  friendly  to  wheat  &  rye.  These  will 
be  my  first  object.  Next  will  be  grasses,  cattle, 
sheep  &  the  introduction  of  potatoes  for  the  use 
of  the  farm  instead  of  Indian  corn,  in  as  great  a 
degree  as  possible.  You  will  have  from  12  to 
15  laborers  under  you.  They  will  be  well  clothed, 
and  as  well  fed  as  your  management  of  the  farm 
will  enable  us,  for  it  is  chiefly  with  a  view  to  place 
them  on  the  comfortable  footing  of  the  laborers 
of  other  countries,  that  I  come  into  another  coun 
try  to  seek  an  overlooker  for  them,  as  also  to  have 
my  lands  a  little  more  taken  care  of.  For  these 
purposes  I  have  long  banished  tobacco,  &  wish 
to  do  the  same  by  Indian  corn  in  a  great  degree. 
The  house  wherein  you  will  live  will  be  about  a 
half  a  mile  from  my  own.  You  will  of  course 
keep  bachelor's  house.  It  is  usual  with  us  to  give 
a  fixed  allowance  of  pork;  I  shall  much  rather 
substitute  beef  and  mutton,  as  I  consider  pork  to  be 
as  destructive  an  article  in  a  farm  as  Indian  corn." 

In  discussing  the  advantages  of  rotation  of  crops 
Jefferson  says,  "  my  rotation  is  as  follows : 

"  i.  Wheat,  followed  the  same  year  by  turneps, 
to  be  fed  on  by  the  sheep. 

"  2.  Corn  &  potatoes  mixed,  &  in  autumn  the 
vetch  to  be  used  as  fodder  in  the  spring  if  wanted, 
or  to  be  turned  in  as  a  dressing. 

"  3.  Peas  or  potatoes,  or  both  according  to  the 
quality  of  the  field. 

8  113 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

"  4.  Rye  and  clover  sown  on  it  in  the  spring. 
Wheat  may  be  substituted  here  for  rye,  when  it 
shall  be  found  that  the  2d,  3d,  5th,  &  6th,  fields 
will  subsist  the  farm. 

"  5.  Clover. 

"  6.  Clover,  &  in  autumn  turn  it  in  &  sow  the 
vetch. 

"  7.  Turn  in  the  vetch  in  the  spring,  then  sow 
buckwheat  &  turn  that  in,  having  hurdled  off  the 
poorest  spots  for  cowpenning.  In  autumn  sow 
wheat  to  begin  the  circle  again. 

"  I  am  for  throwing  the  whole  force  of  my  hus 
bandry  on  the  wheat  field,  because  it  is  the  only  one 
which  is  sure  to  market  to  produce  money.  Per 
haps  the  clover  may  bring  in  something  in  the 
form  of  stock.  The  other  fields  are  merely  for  the 
consumption  of  the  farm. 

"  The  first  step  towards  the  recovery  of  our 
lands  is  to  find  substitutes  for  corn  &  bacon.  I 
count  on  potatoes,  clover  &  sheep.  The  two  former 
to  feed  every  animal  on  the  farm  except  my  ne 
groes,  &  the  latter  to  feed  them,  diversified  with 
rations  of  salt  fish  and  molasses  both  of  them 
wholesome,  agreeable  &  cheap  articles  of  food." 

Eight  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre  is  not  success 
ful  agriculture,  although  wheat  sold  in  Richmond 
at  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  bushel.  Jefferson 
boasted  that  the  wheat  grown  upon  his  mountain 
slopes  was  whiter  than  the  low  country  wheat,  and 
averaged  five  or  six  pounds  heavier  to  the  bushel. 
His  method  of  farming  was  this :  "  When  the 
forest  was  first  cleared,  laying  bare  the  rich,  deep, 
black  virgin  soil,  the  slow  accumulation  of  ages 
of  growth  and  decay,  tobacco  was  grown  for  five 
successive  years.  That  broke  the  heart  of  the 
land  and  it  was  allowed  to  rest  for  a  while.  Then 
tobacco  was  raised  again  until  the  crop  ceased  to 

114 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   FARMER 

be  remunerative;  and  then  the  fields  were  aban 
doned  to  nature.  They  sowed  wheat  in  the  virgin 
soil  among  the  stumps ;  next  year  corn,  then  wheat, 
then  corn  again;  and  maintained  this  rotation  as 
long  as  they  could  gather  a  harvest  of  five  bushels 
of  wheat  or  ten  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre;  after 
which  Nature  was  permitted  to  have  her  way, 
and  new  lands  were  cleared  for  spoilation."  There 
was  then  no  lack  of  land  for  the  application  of 
this  method  of  exhaustion.  Out  of  Jefferson's 
five  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety-one  acres 
and  two-thirds  in  Albemarle,  less  than  twelve  hun 
dred  were  usually  under  cultivation.  His  estate 
of  Poplar  Forest  was  nearly  as  large,  but  only 
eight  hundred  acres  were  cleared.  All  the  arts  by 
which  the  wise  farmer  contrives  to  give  back  to  his 
fields  a  little  more  than  he  takes  from  them  were 
neglected,  and  the  strenuous  force  of  the  slaves  was 
squandered  in  an  endless  endeavor  to  make  good 
the  sacrifice  of  the  fields  by  the  sacrifice  of  the 
forests. 

Nevertheless  Jefferson  was  progressive  in  his 
ideas,  and  spent  a  great  deal  of  pains  and  money 
in  introducing  new  plants  and  fine  stock  from 
Europe.  He  brought  a  cargo  of  olive  plants 
from  Marseilles,  and  boxes  of  seeds  which  he  sent 
to  Charleston.  He  also  introduced  caper  plants, 
and  wrote  many  letters  to  the  people  of  South 
Carolina  urging  them  to  adopt  olive  culture.  He 
sent  home  trees  and  shrubbery  from  Washington. 
Bacon  says :  "  I  used  to  send  a  servant  there  with 
a  great  many  fine  things  from  Monticello  for  his 
table,  and  he  would  send  back  the  cart  loaded  with 
shrubbery  from  a  nursery  near  Georgetown,  that 
belonged  to  a  man  named  Maine,  and  ^he  would 
always  send  me  directions  what  to  do  with  it. 

"  Mr.  Jefferson  was  very  fond  of  all  kinds  of 
"5 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

good  stock,"  continues  Bacon.  "  The  first  full 
blooded  Merino  sheep  in  all  that  country  was  im 
ported  by  Mr.  Jefferson  for  himself  and  Mr.  Madi 
son,  while  he  was  President.  When  I  got  home 
I  put  a  notice  in  the  paper  at  Charlottesville  that 
persons  who  wished  to  improve  their  stock  could 
send  us  two  ewes,  and  we  would  keep  them  till 
the  lambs  were  old  enough  to  wean,  and  then  give 
the  owners  the  choice  of  the  lambs  and  they  leave 
the  other  lamb  and  both  of  the  ewes.  We  got 
the  greatest  lot  of  sheep,  more  than  we  wanted; 
two  or  three  hundred  I  think;  and  in  a  few  years 
we  had  an  immense  flock.  People  came  a  long 
distance  to  buy  our  full  blooded  sheep.  At  first 
we  sold  them  for  fifty  dollars,  but  they  soon  fell 
to  thirty  and  twenty ;  and  before  I  left  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  Merino  sheep  were  so  numerous  that  they  sold 
about  as  cheap  as  the  common  ones.  Some  years 
afterwards  he  imported  from  Barbary,  I  think, 
four  large  broad  tailed  sheep.  I  have  forgotten 
their  names.  He  sent  these  from  Washington  in 
his  own  wagon,  which  had  gone  there  with  a  load 
from  Monticello.  These  sheep  made  very  fine 
mutton,  but  they  were  not  popular — did  not  dis 
seminate  and  ran  out  in  a  few  years. 

"  About  the  time  the  first  sheep  were  imported," 
continues  the  ex-overseer,  "  Mr.  Jefferson  im 
ported  six  hogs, — a  pair  for  himself,  Mr.  Madison 
and  General  Dearborn,  one  of  his  secretaries. 
Those  imported  hogs  were  the  finest  hogs  I  have 
ever  known.  They  were  called  Calcutta  hogs. 
They  were  black  on  the  heads  and  rumps  and 
white  listed  around  the  body.  They  were  very 
long  bodied  with  short  legs;  were  easily  kept, 
would  live  on  grazing,  and  would  scarcely  ever 
root.  They  would  not  root  much  more  than  an 
ox.  With  common  pasturage  they  would  weigh 

116 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   FARMER 

two  hundred  at  a  year  old,  and  fed  with  corn 
and  well  treated  they  would  weigh  three  or  four 
hundred.  Mr.  Jefferson  didn't  care  about  making 
money  from  his  imported  stock.  His  great  object 
was  to  get  it  widely  scattered  over  the  country 
and  he  left  all  these  arrangements  to  me.  I  told 
the  people  to  bring  three  sows  and  when  they  came 
for  them,  they  might  take  two  and  leave  one.  In 
this  way  we  soon  got  a  large  number  of  hogs  and 
the  stock  was  scattered  over  the  whole  country. 
He  never  imported  any  cattle  while  I  was  with 
him.  We  could  always  get  remarkably  fine  cattle 
from  West  Virginia. 

"  But  the  horse  was  Mr.  Jefferson's  favorite. 
He  was  passionately  fond  of  a  good  horse.  We 
generally  worked  mules  on  the  plantation,  but  he 
would  not  ride  or  drive  anything  but  a  high  bred 
horse.  Bay  was  his  preference  for  color.  He 
would  not  have  any  other.  After  he  came  from 
Washington  he  had  a  fine  carriage  built  at  Monti- 
cello,  from  a  model  that  he  planned  himself.  The 
woodworking,  blacksmithing  and  painting  were 
all  done  by  his  own  workmen.  He  had  the  plating 
done  in  Richmond.  When  he  travelled  in  this  car 
riage,  he  always  had  five  horses, — four  in  the  car 
riage  and  the  fifth  for  Burwell  who  always  rode 
behind  him.  Those  five  horses  were  Diomede, 
Brimmer,  Tecumseh,  Wellington  and  Eagle.  In 
his  new  carriage  with  fine  harness  those  four  horses 
made  a  fine  appearance.  He  never  trusted  a  driver 
with  the  lines.  Two  servants  rode  on  horseback 
and  each  guided  his  own  pair.  About  once  a  year 
Mr.  Jefferson  used  to  go  in  his  carnage  to  Mont- 
pellier  and  spend  several  days  with  Mr.  Madison; 
and  every  summer  he  went  to  Poplar  Forest  his 
farm  in  Bedford,  and  spent  two  or  three  months." 

Mr.  Jefferson  always  knew  all  about  all  his  stock, 
117 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

as  well  as  everything  else  at  Monticello,  and  gave 
special  directions  about  it.    He  writes : 

"If  Arcturus  has  not  been  exchanged  for  Mr. 
Smithson's  mare  I  wish  him  and  the  Chickasaw 
mare  to  be  disposed  of  immediately.  I  would  take 
a  fair  wagon  horse  or  mule  for  either  rather  than 
keep  them.  For  Arcturus  we  ought  certainly  to 
get  a  first  rate  wagon  horse  or  mule.  Jerry  and 
his  wagon  are  to  go  to  Bedford  before  Christmas. 
He  is  to  start  on  the  morning  of  Saturday,  the 
2Oth  of  December,  and  take  with  him  a  bull  calf 
from  Mr.  Randolph,  and  the  young  ram  which 
we  have  saved  for  that  purpose.  He  is  to  proceed 
to  my  brother's  the  first  day,  and  stay  there  the 
Sunday.  He  will  take  in  there  some  things  lodged 
there  last  year ;  to  wit,  a  pair  of  fowls,  some  clover 
seed  and  some  cow  peas,  and  proceed  with  them  to 
Poplar  Forest." 


118 


t^^^^ 


efl  f*h- 

*J  <*s* 
C*»«^>- 


FAC-SIMII.K  OF  JEFFERSON'S  INSTRUCTIONS  REGARDING 
HIS  MONUMENT 


IV 

AUTHOR  OF  THE  DECLARATION   OF  INDEPENDENCE 

FEW  men  write  their  own  epitaphs,  but  it  was 
like  Thomas  Jefferson  to  do  so,  and  from  the  long 
inventory  of  his  honors  and  achievements  he  se 
lected  three  items  by  which  he  wished  to  be  judged 
by  his  Maker  and  his  fellow-men.  He  discarded 
all  the  honors  that  had  been  conferred  upon  him, 
ignored  all  the  offices  he  had  filled,  and  simply 
inscribed  upon  his  tomb  the  fact  that  he  had  written 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Virginia 
Statute  for  Religious  Liberty,  and  had  .founded 
the  University  of  Virginia.  In  making  this  selec 
tion  Jefferson  showed  remarkable  insight  into  his 
own  character  and  estimated  with  remarkable  ac 
curacy  the  verdict  of  posterity  upon  his  public 
services.  No  one  ever  questioned  the  purity  of  his 
patriotism  in  the  important  part  he  played  during 
the  period  of  history  that  preceded  the  Revolution ; 
and  in  the  century  of  controversy  over  his  acts 
and  utterances  his  unselfishness  and  nobility  of  pur 
pose  in  securing  religious  freedom  and  in  founding 
an  educational  institution  for  his  State  have  never 
been  doubted.  No  other  incidents  in  his  career 
are  so  free  from  criticism  and  so  untainted  by 
political  partisanship. 

No  doubt  the  Declaration  of  Independence  would 
be  torn  to  tatters  by  the  critics  if  it  were  presented 
to  Congress  as  an  original  document  to-day.  Its 
literary  style  would  be  condemned,  the  accuracy 
of  its  statements  would  be  disputed,  and  it  would 

119 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

never  be  adopted  or  endorsed  by  either  house  of 
Congress  without  thorough  revision;  for  there 
has  been  a  decided  change  in  literary  taste  and 
style  since  Jefferson's  day.  Fashions  in  litera 
ture  change  almost  as  rapidly  as  in  clothing.  The 
Declaration  of  Independence  as  a  literary  pro 
duction  was  quite  as  perfect  and  appropriate  for 
its  time  as  the  garments  worn  by  the  members 
of  the  Continental  Congress.  It  was  severely 
handled  when  it  was  submitted,  and  during  the 
three  subsequent  days  of  debate  Jefferson  was  mor 
tified  almost  beyond  endurance  at  the  savage  man 
ner  in  which  his  fine  phrases  and  lofty  ideas  were 
assailed.  It  has  been  criticised  as  "  a  mass  of 
platitudes,  plagiarized  from  various  authors;" 
but  the  stately  simplicity  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
and  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  are  open  to  similar 
criticisms. 

Thomas  Jefferson  honored  Virginia  more  than 
/  any  other  of  her  sons  except  George  Washington, 
I  but  Virginia,  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  un- 
I  grateful  of  States,  has  not  honored  Thomas  Jef 
ferson.  His  neighbors,  to  whose  welfare  he  de 
voted  so  much  time  and  labor,  and  to  whom  his 
achievements  brought  so  much  glory  and  honor, 
permitted  him  to  die  destitute,  and  his  family  to 
be  driven  by  poverty  from  their  home.  They  per 
mitted  his  estates  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  aliens 
who  now  stand  in  his  footprints  and  measure  the 
value  of  his  greatest  gift  to  the  people  of  his  State, 
— the  University  of  Virginia,  which  they  have 
never  fully  appreciated.  They  allowed  his  grave 
to  be  trampled  upon  and  his  tomb  to  be  desecrated, 
and  the  General  Government  to  restore  the  monu 
ment  that  was  erected  to  his  memory;  and  a  citi 
zen  of  New  York  to  preserve  and  occupy  the  man 
sion  in  which  he  spent  the  best  years  of  his  life. 

120 


THE   DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE 

But  Virginia  also  allowed  the  home  of  Washington 
to  pass  out  of  her  hands,  the  home  of  Madison  to 
be  sold  under  the  hammer,  and  the  ruins  of  James 
town,  the  first  civilized  settlement  on  the  conti 
nent  of  North  America,  to  be  bought  at  auction 
by  a  lady  from  Ohio  who  had  the  generosity  to 
present  it  to  a  patriotic  society  of  women.  No 
State  in  the  Union  has  furnished  more  great  men 
than  Virginia;  none  has  done  so  little  to  honor 
them. 

Citizens  of  other  States  have  been  generous 
to  the  institution  Thomas  Jefferson  founded,  but 
the  Legislature  of  Virginia  has  ever  shown  a 
penurious  policy  towards  it.  Down  in  Powhatan 
County  there  is  a  little  post-office  that  bears  the 
name  of  Jefferson,  but  it  appears  nowhere  else 
upon  the  map  of  Virginia.  Twenty-three  other 
States  have  counties  named  Jefferson;  forty-five 
other  States  have  christened  cities  and  towns  in 
his  name.  Thirty-seven  counties  in  the  United 
States  are  called  Washington,  twenty-four  are 
called  Franklin,  and  twenty-two  Jackson.  In  other 
States  there  are  universities  and  other  institu 
tions  of  learning,  hospitals,  libraries,  and  monu 
ments  erected  in  his  honor,  but  Virginia  is  without 
them,  and  within  the  limits  of  the  State  nothing 
bears  his  name  except  a  hotel  (lately  burned)  whose 
ornate  architecture  and  decoration  would  have  of 
fended  his  sensitive,  classical  taste.  Of  all  the  great 
mountains  and  rivers  and  other  great  objects  which 
he  added  to  the  national  domain  none  have  been 
called  Jefferson. 

The  germ  of  patriotism  was  dropped  into  Jeffer 
son's  soul  by  Patrick  Henry.  About  the  time 
Jefferson  entered  college  at  Williamsburg  he  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  hilarious,  impecunious,  irre 
sponsible,  reckless  young  lawyer,  full  of  music  and 

121 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

humor,  who  was  regarded  by  the  neighbors  as  an 
incorrigible  scamp,  but  soon  in  a  single  speech  was 
to  win  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  eloquent 
and  persuasive  orator  in  America.  In  the  loose 
methods  of  the  courts  of  those  days  Patrick  Henry 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  after  six  weeks'  study 
and  a  promise  of  future  application,  but  the  con 
duct  of  his  first  case  made  him  famous  through 
out  the  colony. 

Jefferson  was  on  his  way  to  Williamsburg  to 
enter  college  when  he  first  met  Henry  at  the  house 
of  a  Mr.  Dandridge  at  Hanover,  where  they  spent 
two  pleasant  weeks  together  and  formed  a  friend 
ship  which  lasted  until  political  differences  divided 
them.  Jefferson  was  an  intense  admirer  of  Henry's 
oratory,  courage,  and  wit,  but  frequently  expresses 
his  regret  for  his  lack  of  industry  and  learning. 
Shortly  before  his  death,  while  writing  the  remin 
iscences  of  his  youth,  he  said  of  Henry's  oratory: 
"  I  never  heard  anything  that  deserved  to  be  called 
by  the  same  name  with  what  flowed  from  him, 
and  where  he  got  the  torrent  of  language  from  is 
inconceivable.  I  have  frequently  shut  my  eyes 
while  he  spoke,  and  when  he  was  done  asked  myself 
what  he  had  said,  without  being  able  to  recollect  a 
word  of  it." 

When  Henry  came  to  Williamsburg  he  fre 
quently  shared  Jefferson's  bed  for  the  lack  of  money 
to  pay  a  hotel  bill,  and  thus  the  intimacy  sprang 
up  between  them.  It  was  on  the  fly-leaf  of  Jeffer 
son's  "  Coke  upon  Littleton"  that  Henry  wrote 
his  famous  resolutions,  and  it  was  from  Jefferson's 
modest  chamber  that  this  briefless  barrister  went 
to  the  meeting  of  Burgesses  in  May,  1765,  to 
make  that  famous  speech  against  taxation  without 
representation.  Jefferson  accompanied  him  to  the 
little  Court-House  in  Williamsburg,  and,  being 

122 


* 


i  5 


THE   DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE 

unable  to  secure  entrance  for  the  crowd,  stood  in 
the  door-way  and  listened  to  truths  and  arguments 
that  made  him  an  arrant  rebel  against  the  king 
and  all  others  in  authority  in  the  Virginia  Colony. 
Henry  never  had  a  listener  more  attentive,  or 
whose  mind  was  held  captive  so  completely  as  that 
of  the  student  on  the  threshold.  As  a  boy  Jefferson 
was  profoundly  impressed  by  the  oratory  of  an 
Indian  chief,  and  Ossian's  majestic  phrases  were 
music  to  his  ears.  Fifty-nine  years  afterwards  he 
described  this  day  as  the  most  important  in  his 
life. 

In  Virginia  the  people  had  been  born  and  bred 
to  feel  pride  in  the  parliament  and  the  king,  the 
church,  the  literature,  and  the  history  of  the  mother 
country,  and  although  Jefferson  was  a  Whig  by 
nature  and  conviction,  his  sense  of  justice  was 
not  greater  than  his  attachment  to  England. 
Nevertheless  from  the  time  he  heard  that  speech 
from  Patrick  Henry  he  became  a  changed  man. 
;<  Torrents  of  sublime  eloquence,"  he  observed, 
"  swept  away  all  arguments  on  the  other  side,  and 
the  resolutions  were  carried,  the  last  one  by  a  single 
vote."  But  the  next  day,  in  the  absence  of  the 
mighty  eloquence  which  had  made  the  timid  brave, 
Henry's  resolutions  were  expunged  from  the  rec 
ords  upon  the  motion  of  Colonel  Peter  Randolph, 
an  uncle  of  Jefferson.  But  the  seed  that  had  been 
implanted  in  fertile  soil  germinated  and  grew  until 
Jefferson  became  eager  to  take  an  active  part  in 
the  struggle  that  his  foresight  realized  was  before 
the  colony. 

When  he  finished  his  law  studies  in  1768  the  ad 
vent  of  a  new  governor  made  necessary  the  election 
of  a  new  House  of  Burgesses,  and  Jefferson,  then 
twenty-five  years  old,  offered  himself  as  a  candi 
date  from  Albemarle  County.  It  was  one  of  the 

123 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

few  political  contests  in  his  long  life  in  which  he 
took  an  active  part,  and  during  the  winter  he  can 
vassed  the  county  thoroughly  for  votes.  He  visited 
every  house,  soliciting  the  support  of  every  citizen, 
and  obtained  pledges  so  far  as  possible.  With  the 
aid  of  his  mother  and  sisters  he  entertained  the 
voters  of  the  county  at  Shadwell,  where  there  was 
always  a  full  punch-bowl  and  a  hearty  welcome. 
During  the  three  days  of  election  he  supplied  food 
and  drink  to  the  voters,  attended  personally  at  the 
polls,  and  thanked  every  man  who  cast  a  ballot 
for  him.  That  was  the  custom  of  the  day.  Every 
citizen  was  compelled  to  vote  at  every  election  un 
der  a  penalty  of  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco, 
but  it  was  expected  that  the  candidates  would  re 
ward  them  and  make  the  exercise  of  this  duty  as 
agreeable  as  possible  by  offering  refreshments.  In 
1777  James  Madison  attempted  to  abolish  this  cus 
tom  and  lost  his  election.  His  failure  to  furnish 
luncheon  and  punch  at  the  polls  was  ascribed  to 
parsimony  and  his  absence  to  snobbishness,  and 
he  was  defeated  by  a  large  majority. 

Jefferson's  election  was  a  matter  of  course,  and 
he  was  very  desirous  of  distinguishing  himself. 
He  wrote  Madison  long  after  that  "  in  those  days 
the  esteem  of  the  world  was  perhaps  of  higher 
value  than  anything  in  it,"  but  his  first  legisla 
tive  experience  was  brief,  unsatisfactory,  and 
amusing. 

George  Washington  was  elected  at  the  same 
time,  and  took  his  seat  with  Jefferson  in  May, 
1769.  His  appearance  in  the  House  of  Burgesses 
immediately  after  the  Braddock  campaign  created 
a  flutter,  for  his  fame  had  gone  before  him.  By 
order  of  the  Assembly,  Speaker  Robinson  was  di 
rected  to  tender  him  the  thanks  of  the  people  of 
Virginia,  and  did  so  with  such  an  exuberance  of 

124 


THE   DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE 

compliments  that  Washington  was  disconcerted 
and  unable  to  reply.  He  rose,  flushed,  and  fal 
tered,  whereupon  the  Speaker  relieved  his  em 
barrassment  by  saying: 

"  Sit  down,  Colonel  Washington,  sit  down.  Your 
modesty  equals  your  valor,  and  that  surpasses  the 
power  of  any  language  I  possess." 

On  the  following  day  Jefferson  was  assigned 
to  his  first  public  duty,  and  performed  it  with 
great  pride.  He  was  designated  to  prepare  a  reply 
to  the  speech  of  the  governor,  Lord  Botetourt,  but 
suffered  the  intense  mortification  of  having  his 
fine  phrases  rejected  by  the  practical  Burgesses, 
who  were  not  accustomed  to  express  their  thoughts 
in  such  elegant  diction.  On  the  third  day  of  that 
session  were  introduced  the  famous  Four  Resolu 
tions,  which  was  the  first  formal  act  of  rebellion 
committed  in  the  American  colonies.  They  were 
in  short :  ( i )  no  taxation  without  representation ; 
(2)  advocating  the  cooperation  o'f  the  colonies  in 
seeking  redress  for  wrongs;  (3)  remonstrating  \ 
against  the  injustice  of  sending  accused  persons 
away  from  the  colony  for  trial;  (4)  advocating  a 
formal  remonstrance  to  the  king.  The  resolutions 
were  unanimously  adopted,  and  the  Speaker  was 
directed  to  send  a  copy  to  every  legislative  assembly 
on  the  continent. 

Williamsburg  was  sleepless  with  excitement,  and 
the  night  was  spent  by  Jefferson,  Washington,  and 
their  friends  in  speculating  as  to  the  probable  action 
of  the  governor  and  the  loyalists.  The  next  morn 
ing  Lord  Botetourt's  secretary  entered  the  little 
room  and  announced  that  the  governor  commanded 
the  presence  of  the  Burgesses  in  the  council  cham 
ber.  The  patriots  stepped  across  the  hall  and  stood 
respectful  and  expectant  around  the  throne.  Ar 
rayed  in  his  gorgeous  robes  of  office  and  all  the 

125 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

dignity  he  could  assume,  the  governor  addressed 
them  as  follows : 

"  Mr.  Speaker  and  gentlemen  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  I  have  heard  of  your  resolves  and  augur 
ill  of  their  effect.  You  have  made  it  my  duty  to 
dissolve  you,  and  you  are  accordingly  dissolved." 

The  new  member  from  Albemarle  listened  with 
astonishment  at  this  exercise  of  authority  over 
the  representatives  of  the  people  of  Virginia  assem 
bled  to  frame  laws  for  their  protection  and  benefit, 
and  thus  saw  the  end  of  his  first  term  in  the  colonial 
Legislature.  After  all  his  canvassing  and  treating, 
the  labor  and  anxiety  of  his  mother  and  sisters 
and  himself,  he  enjoyed  the  honor  of  representing 
his  native  county  but  five  days. 

The  governor  could  dissolve  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  as  an  organization,  but  he  could  not  ex 
tinguish  the  patriotism  of  its  members,  or  suppress 
the  indignation  that  they  felt  at  his  arbitrary 
repudiation  of  their  rights.  The  next  day  they 
met  in  a  mass  convention  and  signed  an  address 
recommending  their  constituents  to  follow  the  ex 
ample  of  the  people  of  Massachusetts  and  boycott 
the  manufacturers  and  merchants  of  Great  Britain. 
They  resolved  to  be  more  economical  and  indus 
trious;  never  to  buy  an  article  taxed  by  Parlia 
ment  excepting  cheap  qualities  of  paper,  without 
which  the  business  of  life  could  not  go  on;  never 
to  patronize  British  ships;  never  to  use  an  article 
imported  from  England  that  they  could  do  with 
out;  and,  finally,  to  save  all  their  lambs  in  order 
to  have  wool  enough  to  furnish  their  own  clothing. 
Eighty-eight  members  of  the  House  of  Burgesses, 
including  Washington  and  Jefferson,  signed  this 
document  and  were  reflected.  The  twelve  who  re 
fused  to  do  so  were  defeated  at  the  next  election,  and 
were  themselves  boycotted  throughout  the  colony. 

126 


THE   DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE 

These  were  defensive  measures,  but  the  first  ag 
gressive  movement  was  at  once  decided  upon  at 
a  conference  of  six  or  seven  gentlemen,  including 
Thomas  Jefferson,  George  Washington,  Patrick 
Henry,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Francis  Lightfoot  Lee, 
and  Dabney  Carr,  Jefferson's  brother-in-law,  who 
gathered  as  usual  in  a  private  room  of  the  Raleigh 
tavern  at  Williamsburg  each  evening  in  the  early 
part  of  March,  1772. 

The  Massachusetts  Assembly  had  already  ap 
pointed  a  committee  to  correspond  with  the  other 
colonial  Legislatures  upon  subjects  of  common  con 
cern,  and  the  young  gentlemen  at  this  gathering 
determined  to  propose  a  similar  committee  for  the 
Virginia  Burgesses.  Resolutions  were  drawn  and 
the  next  morning  were  offered  by  Dabney  Carr 
and  almost  unanimously  adopted.  Jefferson  and 
Patrick  Henry  were  appointed  on  the  committee. 

:(  The  next  event  which  excited  our  sympathy," 
said  Jefferson  in  his  autobiography,  "  was  the  Bos 
ton  Port  Bill  by  which  that  port  was  to  be  shut 
on  the  first  of  June  1774."  "  We  were  under  con 
viction  of  the  necessity  of  arousing  our  people  from 
the  lethargy  into  which  they  had  fallen,  and 
thought  that  the  appointment  of  a  day  of  fasting 
and  prayer  would  be  most  likely  to  call  up  and 
alarm  their  attention."  Therefore  these  young 
rebels  rummaged  the  records  for  revolutionary 
precedents  and  forms  used  by  the  Puritans  of  that 
day.  and,  said  Jefferson,  "  we  cooked  up  a  resolu 
tion  for  appointing  the  first  day  of  June  for  a  day 
of  fasting,  humiliation  and  prayer,  to  implore 
heaven  to  avert  from  us  the  evils  of  civil  war, 
to  inspire  us  with  firmness  in  support  of  our  rights, 
and  to  turn  the  hearts  of  the  king  and  Parliament 
to  moderation  and  justice." 

Edmund   Randolph,   in   his   "  History  of  Vir- 
127 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

ginia,"  says  that  both  Jefferson  and  Charles  Lee 
suggested  the  plan  of  a  fast-day,  and  wrote  the 
proclamation,  although  Jefferson,  when  Presi 
dent,  refused  to  issue  thanksgiving  and  fast-day 
proclamations  because  he  considered  them  a  form 
of  religious  coercion. 

The  next  morning  they  induced  Robert  Carter 
Nicholas,  "  whose  grave  and  religious  character 
wras  more  in  unison  with  the  tone  of  the  resolu 
tions,"  to  offer  them.  They  were  passed  without 
opposition,  "  and  the  governor  dissolved  us  as 
usual,"  said  Jefferson  with  grim  humor. 

The  little  self-appointed  committee  of  young  ama 
teur  revolutionists  still  continued  to  meet  at  the  Ra 
leigh  tavern  and  instructed  their  Committee  on 
Correspondence  to  propose  to  similar  committees  in 
the  other  colonies  the  appointment  of  delegates  to 
meet  in  a  general  Congress.  "  It  was  acceded  to," 
said  Jefferson.  "  Philadelphia  was  appointed  as  the 
place  and  the  5th  of  September  for  the  time  of 
meeting."  Thus,  there  and  then,  in  the  little  room 
in  the  Williamsburg  tavern,  wras  conceived  and 
born  that  body  whose  resolutions  were  to  separate 
the  American  colonies  from  the  mother  country, 
and  establish  a  precedent  which  has  been  gratefully 
emulated  by  all  the  other  republics  in  the  world. 

A  State  Convention  was  called  at  Richmond. 
Jefferson  was  appointed  a  delegate  from  Albemarle 
County,  but  was  detained  by  an  attack  of  dysentery. 
He  had  drawn  up  a  document,  which  he  afterwards 
used  as  his  model  for  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  and  which  contained  some  of  its  phrases, 
and  sent  one  copy  of  it  to  Peyton  Randolph  and 
another  to  Patrick  Henry.  "  Whether  Mr.  Henry 
disapproved  of  the  ground  taken,"  said  Jefferson 
in  his  autobiography,  "  or  was  too  lazy  to  read 
it  (for  he  was  the  laziest  man  in  reading  I  ever 

128 


THE   DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE 

knew),  I  never  learned,  but  he  communicated  it 
to  nobody."  Randolph  laid  his  copy  before  the 
convention,  which  ordered  it  printed  in  pamphlet 
form  under  the  title  "  A  Summary  View  of  the 
Rights  of  British  America."  In  that  form  it  found 
its  way  to  England  and  was  Thomas  Jefferson's 
first  introduction  on  that  side  of  the  ocean,  where 
a  few  years  afterwards  his  name  became  well 
known.  The  pamphlet  was  pronounced  treasonable, 
and  Jefferson  had  the  honor  of  being  one  of  the 
first  men  in  the  American  colonies  to  be  publicly 
denounced  and  proscribed. 

In  March,  1775,  we  find  young  Jefferson  again 
in  Richmond  attending  the  convention,  when 
Patrick  Henry  hurried  the  willing  people  into  revo 
lution  by  a  speech  that  still  thrills  the  hearts  of 
American  school-boys,  and  Jefferson  was  appointed 
to  assist  Washington  and  others  to  devise  a  plan  for 
placing  the  colony  on  a  military  basis.  Before  the 
convention  adjourned,  and  before  his  committee 
had  undertaken  active  work,  he  was  elected  to 
represent  Virginia  in  the  Continental  Congress  in 
the  place  of  Peyton  Randolph,  who  was  recalled 
to  preside  over  the  House  of  Burgesses. 

Jefferson  went  to  Philadelphia  on  horseback 
from  Monticello;  he  had  an  allowance  of  forty- 
five  shillings  a  day  and  a  shilling  a  mile  for  his 
travelling-expenses.  He  was  thirty-two  years  of 
age,  and  there  were  only  two  men  younger  than  he 
in  the  Continental  Congress.  The  new  member 
from  Virginia  was  welcomed,  says  John  Adams, 
"as  he  brought  with  him  a  reputation  for  litera 
ture,  science  and  a  happy  talent  for  composition." 
It  was  whispered  about  that,  in  addition  to  Latin 
and  Greek,  he  understood  French,  Italian,  and 
Spanish;  was  learning  German  and  intended  to 
master  Gaelic  "  if  he  could  get  the  books  from 
9  129 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

Scotland;"  that  he  could  calculate  an  eclipse,  sur 
vey  an  estate,  tie  an  artery,  plan  an  edifice,  try 
a  case,  break  a  horse,  dance  a  minuet,  and  play 
the  violin, — a  long  list  of  accomplishments  that 
were  admired  by  the  sixty  serious  gentlemen  in 
silk  stockings  and  pigtails  who  sat  in  the  plain 
brick  building  up  a  narrow  alley  in  Philadelphia 
and  called  themselves  "  the  honorable  Congress." 
But  with  all  his  versatility  Jefferson  lacked  the 
talent  of  oratory.  Like  St.  Paul,  his  pen  was  pow 
erful  but  his  tongue  was  weak.  Conscious  of  this 
weakness,  he  discussed  the  art  freely  and  with 
many  wise  comments  in  his  letters  to  his  friends. 
"  The  finest  thing  in  my  opinion,  which  the  English 
language  has  produced,"  he  once  said  to  a  friend, 
"  is  the  defense  of  Eugene  Aram  spoken  by  himself 
at  the  bar  of  the  York  assizes." 

Jefferson's  voice  was  weak  and  husky  and  he 
was  never  able  to  raise  it  above  the  tone  of  ordi 
nary  conversation;  he  was  not  fluent  when  upon 
his  feet;  there  was  no  fire  nor  magnetism  in  his 
presence,  but  we  have  the  testimony  of  John  Adams 
that  "  he  was  so  prompt,  frank,  explicit  and  de 
cisive  upon  committees  and  in  conversation  that 
he  soon  won  my  heart." 

His  colleagues  soon  called  his  talent  for  com 
position  into  practical  use.  Before  he  had  been 
five  days  in  Philadelphia  he  was  designated  to 
prepare  for  publication  a  statement  of  the  reasons 
for  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  and  the  causes 
which  impelled  the  colonies  to  take  up  arms.  Liv 
ingston  had  presented  a  draft  of  a  document  by 
John  Jay,  but  the  Congress  was  exceedingly  anx 
ious  concerning  the  form  as  well  as  the  substance 
of  its  utterances,  because  of  an  exalted  idea  of 
its  duty  and  the  importance  of  its  work.  The  mem 
bers  felt  that  the  eyes  of  the  universe  were  upon 

130 


THE   DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE 

them,  and  that  the  embryo  nation  was  already 
on  trial.  Jay's  composition  was  not  acceptable, 
and  the  young  member  from  Virginia  was  asked 
to  try  his  hand,  but  his  fiery  utterances  were  too 
strong  for  the  conservative  members,  who  still 
hoped  for  a  reconciliation  with  the  king.  However, 
he  must  have  made  a  distinct  impression  both  as 
a  writer  and  a  reasoner,  for  a  few  weeks  later, 
when  the  Congress  came  to  elect  a  committee  to 
prepare  a  reply  to  Lord  North's  "  Conciliatory 
Propositions,"  Jefferson  received  the  largest  num 
ber  of  ballots, — more  even  than  Benjamin  Franklin 
and  John  Adams,  who  were  associated  with  him. 
As  he  had  already  drawn  Virginia's  answer  to  that 
unsatisfactory  overture,  he  was  asked  to  prepare 
one  for  the  Congress  also,  which  was  unanimously 
approved,  for  by  this  time  his  shrewd  mind  had 
measured  the  mental  caliber  and  disposition  of  his 
colleagues  and  taught  him  how  to  please  them. 

At  the  adjournment  in  August,  Jefferson  went 
back  to  the  convention  at  Richmond,  and  was  im 
mediately  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  next  Continental 
Congress.  He  returned  to  Philadelphia  in  Sep 
tember,  where  active  preparations  were  in  prog 
ress  for  the  war.  A  secret  agent  of  the  French 
government  had  arrived,  and  the  confidence  of  the 
Congress  in  Jefferson  was  shown  by  his  selection 
with  Franklin  and  Jay  to  take  the  first  steps  that 
led  to  the  alliance  that  enabled  the  colonies  to  win 
their  cause.  In  May  the  Virginia  Convention 
passed  resolutions  of  independence,  and  on  the  7th 
of  June,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  the  dean  of  the  dele 
gation  from  that  State,  submitted  them  to  Con 
gress  and  moved  a  formal  declaration  of  indepen 
dence. 

The  form  in  which  this  declaration  should  be 
presented  to  the  world  was  deemed  highly  impor- 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

tant,  and  a  committee  of  five  was  elected  by  bal- 
lot? — Thomas  Jefferson,  Dr.  Franklin,  John 
Adams,  Roger  Sherman,  and  R.  R.  Livingston. 
Because  of  his  skill  with  the  pen  Mr.  Jefferson 
again  received  the  largest  number  of  votes  and 
became  chairman  of  the  most  important  commit 
tee  appointed  by  the  Continental  Congress. 
"  Writings  of  his  were  handed  about,  remarkable 
for  the  peculiar  felicity  of  expression/'  said  Adams, 
and  for  that  reason  he  was  designated  to  prepare 
the  draft  of  a  declaration.  He  was  engaged  eigh 
teen  days  upon  the  task.  He  appreciated  the  re 
sponsibility  and  probably  realized  that  it  was  the 
most  important  duty  of  his  life.  It  is  a  curious 
fact,  however,  that  while  he  was  thus  engaged 
Jefferson  narrowly  escaped  defeat  for  reelection 
to  Congress,  having  received  next  to  the  smallest 
number  of  votes  cast  for  any  of  the  candidates  in 
Virginia. 

John  Adams  has  left  us  the  most  interesting  and 
probably  the  most  accurate  account  of  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  committee.  There  were  several 
meetings,  he  said,  in  which  the  subject  was  gen 
erally  discussed  and  various  propositions  sug 
gested  which  Jefferson  was  asked  "  to  clothe  in 
proper  dress."  "  Mr.  Jefferson  desired  me  to  make 
the  draught,"  Adams  says.  "  This  I  declined  and 
gave  several  reasons  for  declining.  First,  that  he 
was  a  Virginian  and  I  a  Massachesettensian,  and 
it  was  the  policy  to  place  Virginia  at  the  head  of 
everything.  2.  He  was  a  Southern  man  and  I  a 
northern  one.  3.  I  had  been  so  unpopular  and 
obnoxious  for  my  early  and  continual  zeal  in  pro 
moting  the  measure  that  any  draught  of  mine 
would  undergo  more  criticism  and  scrutiny  in 
Congress  than  one  of  his  composition,  and  4. 
and  lastly,  there  would  be  reason  enough  if  there 

132 


THE   DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE 

were  no  other,  I  had  a  great  opinion  of  the  elegance 
of  his  pen  and  none  at  all  of  my  own." 

Jefferson  first  submitted  his  manuscript  to 
Adams  and  Franklin,  who  suggested  some  verbal 
changes  of  no  importance.  "  I  was  delighted  with 
its  high  tone,"  continues  Adams,  "  and  the  flights 
of  oratory  in  which  it  abounded,  especially  that 
concerning  negro  slavery,  which  though  I  knew 
his  southern  brethren  would  never  suffer  to  pass 
in  Congress,  I  never  would  oppose.  There  were 
other  clauses  which  I  would  not  have  inserted, 
if  I  had  drawn  it  up,  particularly  that  which  called 
the  king  a  tyrant.  I  thought  this  too  personal, 
for  I  never  believed  George  to  be  a  tyrant  in  dis 
position  or  in  nature. 

''  We  reported  to  the  committee  of  five.  It  was 
read  and  I  do  not  remember  that  Franklin  or 
Sherman  criticised  anything.  Congress  was  im 
patient  and  the  instrument  was  reported  in  Jef 
ferson's  hand  writing  as  he  originally  drew  it. 
Congress  cut  off  about  a  quarter  of  it  as  I  ex 
pected  they  would,  but  they  obliterated  some  of 
the  best  of  it." 

Jefferson  was  not  pleased  with  Adams's  ver 
sion,  and  in  1823,  forty-seven  years  after  the  fact, 
gave  his  own  as  follows : 

"  The  Committee  of  five  met ;  no  such  things 
as  a  sub-committee  was  proposed,  but  they  unani 
mously  pressed  on  myself  alone  to  undertake  the 
draft.  I  consented ;  I  drew  it ;  but  before  I  re 
ported  it  to  the  Committee,  I  communicated  it 
separately  to  Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Adams,  re 
questing  their  correction,  because  they  were  the  two 
members  of  whose  judgments  and  amendments 
I  wished  most  to  have  the  benefit,  before  presenting 
it  to  the  Committee;  and  you  have  seen  the  orig 
inal  paper  now  in  my  hands,  with  the  corrections 


THE  TRUE  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

of  Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Adams,  interlined  in 
their  own  handwritings.  Their  alterations  were 
two  or  three  only,  and  merely  verbal.  I  then  wrote 
a  fair  copy,  reported  it  to  the  Committee,  and  from 
them,  unaltered,  to  Congress.  Pickering's  obser 
vations,  and  Adams's  in  addition,  '  that  it  con 
tained  no  new  ideas,  that  it  is  a  common-place  com 
pilation,  its  sentiments  hackneyed  in  Congress  for 
two  years  before,  and  its  essence  contained  in  Otis's 
pamphlet,'  may  all  be  true.  Of  that  I  am  not  to 
be  the  judge.  Richard  Henry  Lee  charged  it  as 
copied  from  Locke's  '  Treatise  on  Civil  Govern 
ment.'  Otis's  pamphlet  I  never  saw,  and  whether 
I  had  gathered  my  ideas  from  reading  or  reflection, 
I  do  not  know.  I  know  only  that  I  turned  to 
neither  book  nor  pamphlet  while  writing  it.  I 
did  not  consider  it  as  any  part  of  my  charge  to 
invent  new  ideas  altogether,  and  to  offer  no  senti 
ment  which  had  ever  been  expressed  before. 

"  This,  however,  I  will  say  for  Mr.  Adams,  that 
he  supported  the  Declaration  with  zeal  and  ability, 
fighting  fearlessly  for  every  word  of  it.  As  for 
myself,  I  thought  it  a  duty  to  be,  on  that  occasion, 
a  passive  auditor  of  the  opinions  of  others,  more 
impartial  judges  than  I  could  be,  of  its  merits  or 
demerits.  During  the  debate  I  was  sitting  by  Dr. 
Franklin,  and  he  observed  that  I  was  writhing  a 
little  under  the  acrimonious  criticisms  of  some  of 
its  parts;  and  it  was  on  that  occasion,  that  by 
way  of  comfort,  he  told  me  the  story  of  John 
Thompson,  the  hatter,  and  his  new  sign. 

"  At  the  time  of  writing  the  Declaration,  I 
lodged  in  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Graaf,  a  new  brick 
house,  three  stories  high,  of  which  I  rented  the 
second  floor,  consisting  of  a  parlor  and  bedroom, 
ready  furnished.  In  that  parlor  I  wrote  habitually, 
and  in  it  wrote  this  paper,  particularly.  So  far  I 

134 


THE   DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE 

state  from  written  proofs  in  my  possession.  The 
proprietor,  Graaf,  was  a  young  man,  son  of  a 
German,  and  then  newly  married.  I  think  he 
was  a  bricklayer,  and  that  his  house  was  on  the 
south  side  of  Market  Street,  probably  between 
Seventh  and  Eighth  Streets,  and  if  not  the  only 
house  on  that  part  of  the  street,  I  am  sure  there 
were  few  others  near  it." 

There  has  long  been  a  dispute  as  to  the  house 
in  which  the  Declaration  was  written,  four  build 
ings  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  claiming  the  honor, 
but  the  testimony  of  Jefferson  as  above  given  has 
been  accepted  as  final,  and  a  tablet  now  marks  the 
spot,  which  is  occupied  by  a  banking  building  at 
the  corner  of  Seventh  and  Market  Streets. 

As  Adams  and  Jefferson  agree,  the  committee 
suggested  only  a  few  unimportant  verbal  changes, 
but  the  three  days'  discussion  that  followed  in  the 
House  was  critical  and  caustic,  causing  Jefferson's 
sensitive  nature  intense  mortification,  although  any 
critic  who  compares  the  original  draft  and  that 
which  was  finally  adopted  must  admit  that  the 
document  was  considerably  improved.  Congress 
suppressed  eighteen  sentences,  amended  ten,  and 
added  six.  There  were  also  some  verbal  altera 
tions  ;  for  example,  where  Jefferson  said  that  men 
"  are  endowed  with  inherent  and  inalienable 
rights,"  Congress  struck  out  "  inherent."  A  clause 
reading  "  to  prove  this  let  the  facts  be  submitted 
to  a  candid  world,  for  the  truth  of  which  we 
pledge  a  faith  yet  unsullied  by  falsehood"  was 
stricken  out.  The  paragraph  denouncing  slavery, 
which  Jefferson  had  prepared  with  so  much  elo 
quence,  and  which  pleased  Adams,  was  omitted 
because  a  majority  of  the  members  thought  it  in 
consistent  to  hold  George  III.  responsible  for  a 
slave-trade  carried  on  by  New  England  ship- 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

masters  for  the  benefit  of  the  cotton  and  tobacco 
planters  of  the  South. 

Jefferson  sat  silent  throughout  the  entire  debate, 
so  conscious  of  his  weakness  in  oratory  that  he 
did  not  allow  himself  to  defend  the  pet  passages 
in  his  momentous  document.  The  responsibility 
of  presenting  and  sustaining  the  report  of  the  com 
mittee  was  ably  assumed  by  John  Adams,  whom 
Jefferson  gratefully  called  "the  Colossus"  of  that 
great  debate.  There  is  no  telling  how  much  the 
discussion  might  have  been  prolonged  but  for  the 
interposition  of  a  swarm  of  hungry  flies,  which 
came  in  through  the  open  windows  from  a  livery 
stable  in  the  neighborhood  and  stung  the  legs  of 
the  honorable  members  through  their  silk  stock 
ings.  Jefferson,  who  usually  had  very  little  sense 
of  humor,  used  to  tell  the  story  with  great  amuse 
ment,  and  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  the 
annoyance  became  at  length  so  great  that  a  vote 
was  demanded  before  the  document  had  been  dis 
cussed  by  many  gentlemen  who  desired  to  speak 
upon  it. 

There  has  always  been  a  controversy  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  the  Declaration  was  signed,  but 
we  know  from  his  own  testimony  that  it  was 
adopted  late  on  Thursday  afternoon,  July  4,  and 
was  held  open  for  signatures  until  late  in  the  fol 
lowing  August  because  some  of  the  delegates 
thought  it  best  to  await  explicit  instructions  from 
their  States. 

Although  they  fully  realized  the  solemnity  and 
importance  of  their  proceedings,  the  honorable 
delegates  indulged  in  a  few  jests,  and  the  best 
of  them  have  survived  the  century.  When  John 
Hancock  affixed  his  magnificent  signature  he  re 
marked,  "  There,  John  Bull  can  read  my  name 
without  his  spectacles." 

136 


THE   DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE 

When  Hancock  urged  the  members  of  the  Con 
gress  to  hang  together,  Franklin  retorted, — 

"  Yes,  we  must  hang  together  or  we  shall  all 
hang  separately." 

Benjamin  Harrison,  who  is  described  by  John 
Adams  as  "  a  luxurious,  heavy  gentleman,"  re 
marked  to  Elbridge  Gerry,  who  was  very  small 
of  stature, — 

"  When  the  hanging  comes  I  shall  have  the  ad 
vantage,  for  you  will  be  kicking  in  the  air  when 
it  is  all  over  with  me." 

In  one  of  the  corridors  of  the  Capitol  at  Wash 
ington  is  a  marble  statue  of  John  Hancock,  which 
bears  upon  its  pedestal  the  following  inscription : 

"  He  wrote  his  name  where 
all  nations  should  behold  it 
and  all  time  should 
not  efface  it" 

On  the  Monday  following,  at  noon,  the  Decla 
ration  was  publicly  read  for  the  first  time  in  In 
dependence  Square,  Philadelphia,  from  a  platform 
erected  by  David  Rittenhouse  for  the  purpose  of 
observing  the  transit  of  Venus.  Captain  John 
Hopkins,  the  young  commander  of  the  first  armed 
brig  of  the  navy  of  the  new  nation,  was  the  reader, 
and  his  stentorian  voice  carried  the  words  to  all 
the  multitude  who  had  assembled  to  hear  it. 

In  the  evening,  as  a  newspaper  of  the  day  has 
it,  "  our  late  king's  coat-of-arms  was  brought 
from  the  hall  of  the  State  House,  where  the  said 
king's  courts  were  formerly  held,  and  burned  amid 
the  acclamations  of  a  crowd  of  spectators."  Simi 
lar  scenes  were  enacted  in  every  town  and  village, 
and  at  every  camp  and  post.  Usually  the  militia 
companies,  the  Committee  of  Safety,  and  other 
revolutionary  bodies  marched  in  procession  to  some 

137 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS    JEFFERSON 

public  place,  where,  after  listening  to  the  reading 
of  the  Declaration,  cheers  were  given  and  salutes 
fired ;  and  in  the  evening  there  were  illuminations 
and  bonfires.  In  New  York,  after  the  reading, 
"  a  leaden  statue  of  the  late  king  in  Bowling  Green 
was  laid  prostrate  in  the  dirt,  and  ordered  to  be 
run  into  bullets."  The  xlebtors  in  prison  were  set 
at  liberty.  Virginia,  before  the  news  of  the  Decla 
ration  had  reached  her  (July, 5,  1776),  had  stricken 
the  king's  name  from  the  Prayer-Book ;  and  Rhode 
Island  imposed  a  fine  of  one  thousand  pounds  upon 
any  one  who  prayed  for  him. 

The  draft  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
as  submitted  to  the  committee,  and  the  desk  upon 
which  it  was  written,  are  still  preserved  in  the 
Department  of  State  at  Washington.  The  writing 
is  legible  and  shows  the  interlineations  in  the  hand 
writing  of  Franklin  and  Adams  to  which  Jefferson 
alludes.  The  original  draft,  of  which  the  former 
is  a  fair  copy,  was  written  upon  several  sheets  of 
legal-cap  paper  and  is  full  of  corrections.  This  was 
given  by  Jefferson  to  his  colleague,  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  the  dean  of  the  Virginia  delegation,  who  under 
instructions  from  his  State  moved  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  The  precious  manuscript  was 
kept  in  Lee's  family  until  1825,  when  his  grand 
son  and  namesake  presented  it  to  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  of  Philadelphia,  with  a  cer 
tificate  from  Jefferson  that  it  is  genuine. 

During  the  weeks  and  months  that  he  was 
detained  in  Philadelphia  Jefferson  employed  his 
time  in  preparing  a  constitution  for  the  State  of 
Virginia,  but  the  copy  he  sent  to  the  convention 
arrived  too  late.  His  preamble  was  adopted, 
however,  and  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  of  which  it  was  a 
paraphrase. 

138 


THE    DECLARATION    OF   INDEPENDENCE 

Dr.  Franklin,  John  Adams,  and  Thomas  Jeffer 
son  were  appointed  by  the  Continental  Congress 
a  committee  to  devise  a  seal  and  a  coat-of-arms 
for  the  new-born  nation,  and  prepared  a  most 
extraordinary  design  representing  the  Children  of 
Israel  in  the  wilderness  followed  by  Pharaoh  and 
led  by  a  cloud  by  day,  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night, 
and  "  clouds  radiant  with  the  hidden  presence  of 
God;"  while  on  the  other  side  were  "  Hengist 
and  Horsa,  the  Saxon  chiefs  from  whom  we  claim 
the  honor  of  being  descended,  and  whose  political 
principles  and  forms  of  government  we  have  as 
sumed."  Fortunately,  this  complicated  design  was 
all  rejected  except  that  stately  legend,  "  E  Pluribus 
Unum" 

Another  design  proposed  by  Jefferson  repre 
sented  a  father  presenting  a  bundle  of  rods  to  his 
son  with  the  motto,  "  Insuperabiles  si  Insepara 
bles." 


139 


JEFFERSON   IN    OFFICE 

ACCORDING  to  his  own  calculations,  Jefferson's 
public  life  covered  sixty-one  years.  He  was  ac 
tually  in  office  thirty-nine  years.  His  estimate 
included  the  time  he  spent  in  the  revision  of  the 
laws  of  his  State  and  laboring  for  the  University 
of  Virginia.  He  was  elected  to  the  House  of 
Burgesses  in  1769,  when  he  was  twenty-six  years 
old,  and  served  continually  until  1775,  when  he 
was  sent  to  the  Continental  Congress.  At  the 
same  time  he  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia  As 
sembly  until  1779,  when  he  became  governor  and 
served  two  years.  In  1781  and  again  in  1783  he 
was  elected  to  Congress.  In  1784  he  was  sent  as 
minister  to  France,  and  returned  in  1789  to  accept 
the  portfolio  of  state  in  Washington's  Cabinet, 
which  he  resigned  in  1793.  After  spending  three 
years  at  Monticello  he  was  inaugurated  Vice- 
President  in  1796,  was  elected  President  in  1800, 
and  served  until  March  4,  1809. 

Jefferson  enumerated  his  own  public  services  in 
a  memorandum  which  was  evidently  prepared  for 
the  guidance  of  his  future  biographer.  He  also 
included  a  similar  synopsis  in  his  "  Thoughts  on 
Lotteries,"  which  was  presented  to  the  Virginia 
Legislature  with  a  petition  for  authority  to  dis 
pose  of  his  property  in  that  way.  It  was  an  expla 
nation  and  defence  of  his  poverty;  to  show  that 
he  had  deprived  himself  of  his  estates  by  devoting 
his  time  and  talents  to  the  public.  "  I  came  of 

140 


JEFFERSON   IN   OFFICE 

age  in  1764,  and  was  soon  put  into  the  nomina 
tion  of  justice  of  the  county  in  which  I  lived," 
he  says,  "  and  at  the  first  election  following  I 
became  one  of  its  representatives  in  the  legislature. 
I  was  soon  sent  to  the  old  Congress.  Then  em 
ployed  two  years  with  Mr.  Pendleton  and  Mr. 
Wythe  on  the  revisal  and  reduction  to  a  single 
code  of  the  whole  body  of  the  British  statutes, 
the  acts  of  our  assembly  and  certain  parts  of  the 
common  law.  Then  elected  governor.  Next  to 
the  legislature  and  to  Congress  again.  Sent  to 
Europe  as  minister  plenipotentiary.  Appointed 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  new  government.  Elected 
Vice  President  and  President.  And  lastly  a  vis 
itor  and  Rector  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 
In  these  different  offices  with  scarcely  any  interval 
between  them,  I  have  been  in  the  public  service 
now  sixty  one  years.  And  during  the  far  greater 
part  of  the  time  in  foreign  countries  or  in  other 
States." 

In  enumerating  what  he  had  accomplished  for 
the  benefit  of  his  country,  he  begins  with  the  re 
moval  of  the  obstructions  in  the  Rivanna  River 
so  that  it  could  be  used  "  completely  and  fully  for 
carrying  down  all  our  produce."  He  next  men 
tions  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  then 
says: 

"  I  proposed  the  demolition  of  the  Church  Es 
tablishment,  and  the  Freedom  of  Religion.  It 
.could  only  be  done  by  degrees;  to  wit,  the  Act 
of  1776,  c.  2,  exempted  dissenters  from  contribu 
tions  to  the  Church  and  left  the  Church  clergy 
to  be  supported  by  voluntary  contributions  of  their 
own  sect;  was  continued  from  year  to  year,  and 
made  perpetual  1779,  c.  36.  I  prepared  the  Act 
for  Religious  Freedom  in  1777,  as  part  of  the  Re 
visal,  which  was  not  reported  to  the  Assembly 

141 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

till  1779,  and  that  particular  law  not  passed  till 
1785,  and  then  by  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Madison. 

"  The  Act  putting  an  end  to  Entails. 

"  The  Act  prohibiting  the  Importation  of  Slaves. 

"  The  Act  concerning  Citizens  and  establishing 
the  natural  right  of  man  to  expatriate  himself  at 
will. 

"  The  Act  changing  the  course  of  Descents,  and 
giving  the  inheritance  to  all  the  children,  &c., 
equally,  I  drew  as  part  of  the  Revisal. 

"  The  Act  for  Apportioning  Crimes  and  Pun 
ishments,  part  of  the  same  work,  I  drew.  When 
proposed  to  the  Legislature,  by  Mr.  Madison,  in 

1785,  it  failed  by  a  single  vote.     G.   K.  Taylor 
afterwards,  in   1796,  proposed  the  same  subject; 
avoiding  the  adoption  of  any  part  of  the  diction 
of  mine,  the  text  of  which  had  been  studiously 
drawn  in  the  technical  terms  of  the  law,  so  as 
to  give  no  occasion  for  new  questions  by  new  ex 
pressions.     When  I  drew  mine,  public  labor  was 
thought  the  best  punishment  to  be  substituted  for 
death.     But,  while  I  was  in  France,  I  heard  of  a 
society  in  England,  who  had  successfully  intro 
duced  solitary  confinement,  and  saw  the  drawing 
of  a  prison  at  Lyons,  in  France,  formed  on  the 
idea  of  solitary  confinement.     And,  being  applied 
to  by  the  Governor  of  Virginia  for  the  plan  of  a 
Capitol  and   Prison  I  sent  him  the  Lyons  plan, 
accompanying   it   with   a   drawing   on   a   smaller 
scale,  better  adapted  to  our  use.    This  was  in  June, 

1786.  Mr.  Taylor  very  judiciously  adopted  this 
idea  (which  had  now  been  acted  on  in  Philadel 
phia,  probably  from  the  English  model),  and  sub 
stituted  labor  in  confinement  for  the  public  labor 
proposed  by  the   Committee  on   Revisal;    which 
themselves  would  have  done,  had  they  been  called 
to  act  on  the  subject  again.    The  public  mind  was 

142 


JEFFERSON   IN   OFFICE 

ripe  for  this  in  1796,  when  Mr.  Taylor  proposed 
it,  and  ripened  chiefly  by  the  experiment  in  Phila 
delphia;  whereas,  in  1785,  when  it  had  been  pro 
posed  to  our  Assembly,  they  were  not  quite  ripe 
for  it. 

"  In  1789  and  1790  I  had  a  great  number  of 
olive  plants,  of  the  best  kind,  sent  from  Marseilles 
to  Charleston,  for  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 
They  were  planted  and  are  flourishing,  and 
though  not  yet  multiplied,  they  will  be  the  germ 
of  that  cultivation  in  those  States. 

"  In  1790,  I  got  a  cask  of  heavy  upland  rice 
from  the  river  Denbigh,  in  Africa,  about  Latitude 
9°  30'  North,  which  I  sent  to  Charleston,  in  hopes 
it  might  supersede  the  culture  of  the  wet  rice, 
which  renders  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  so 
pestilential  through  the  summer.  It  was  divided 
and  a  part  sent  to  Georgia.  I  know  not  whether 
it  has  been  attended  to  in  South  Carolina;  but 
it  has  spread  in  the  upper  parts  of  Georgia,  so 
as  to  have  become  almost  general,  and  is  highly 
prized.  Perhaps  it  may  answer  in  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky.  The  greatest  service  which  can  be 
rendered  the  country  is,  to  add  an  useful  plant  to 
its  culture ;  especially  a  bread  grain ;  next  in  value 
to  bread  is  oil. 

"  Whether  the  Act  for  the  more  General  Diffu 
sion  of  Knowledge  will  ever  be  carried  into  com 
plete  effect,  I  know  not.  It  was  received  by  the 
Legislature  with  great  enthusiasm  at  first;  and  a 
small  effort  was  made  in  1796,  by  the  act  to  estab 
lish  public  schools,  to  carry  a  part  of  it  into  effect, 
viz.,  that  for  the  establishment  of  free  English 
schools;  but  the  option  given  to  the  courts  has 
defeated  the  intention  of  the  act." 

Jefferson's  career  as  Governor  of  Virginia  was 
the  most  disagreeable  period  of  his  life,  not  ex- 


THE  TRUE  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

cepting  his  sacrifices  to  escape  bankruptcy.  His 
biographers  differ  materially  as  to  the  success  of 
his  administration.  Some  of  them  say  he  was  not 
a  good  governor;  others  insist  that  he  was  not  a 
bad  one,  and  with  great  solicitude  endeavor  to 
prove  the  negative.  The  local  prejudice  of  the 
time  pronounced  him  disgracefully  inefficient.  His 
apologists  urged  extenuating  circumstances.  Jef 
ferson  himself  pleaded  not  guilty,  and  demanded 
that  his  critics  should  formulate  their  charges  and 
confront  him  at  the  bar  of  the  Legislature. 

In  his  memoirs  he  omits  all  references  to  the 
governorship  except  his  ex-officio  connection  with 
William  and  Mary  College,  and  apologizes  on  the 
plea  of  modesty,  although  he  was  not  usually  trou 
bled  with  that  quality.  Nothing  in  all  his  career 
mortified  him  so  much  as  the  general  disapproval 
of  his  policy  and  conduct  as  governor,  and  it  con 
tinued  to  distress  him  after  everybody  else  had  for 
gotten  the  events  thrown  so  entirely  into  the 
shadow  by  his  brilliant  administration  during  the 
first  term  of  his  Presidency. 

He  sought  an  election  to  the  Assembly  the  year 
following,  in  order  to  secure  a  vindication,  and 
one  of  the  members  from  his  county  resigned  to 
make  a  vacancy  for  him.  At  the  proper  time  he 
arose  in  the  Assembly  and  demanded  that  his  ac 
cusers  should  be  compelled  to  make  formal  charges. 
No  one  responded.  Jefferson  then  made  a  speech 
defending  his  record  and  his  motives,  and  one  of 
his  neighbors  introduced  a  resolution  wThich  was 
unanimously  adopted,  thanking  "  Thomas  Jeffer 
son,  Esq.  for  his  impartial,  upright  and  attentive 
administration,  while  in  office,"  and  declaring  that 
the  Assembly  "  entertained  a  high  opinion  of  his 
ability  and  rectitude  as  chief  magistrate  of  the 
commonwealth."  That  ought  to  have  satisfied  an 

144 


JEFFERSON  IN  OFFICE 

ordinary  man,  but  his  subsequent  writings  reveal 
his  wounded  pride  by  the  omission  of  all  reference 
to  his  governorship.  He  retired  to  Monticello,  se 
cluded  himself,  and  occupied  his  time  by  attending 
to  his  farm  and  writing  his  famous  "  Notes  on 
Virginia,"  which  many  think  the  best  of  all  his 
published  works. 

"  I  felt,"  he  wrote,  "  that  these  injuries,  for  such 
they  have  since  been  acknowledged,  had  inflicted  a 
wound  on  my  spirit  which  will  only  be  cured  by 
the  all-healing  grave." 

The  chief  complaint  against  Jefferson's  admin 
istration  was  his  neglect  to  prepare  for  an  invasion 
of  Virginia  by  the  British,  for  Lord  Cornwallis 
found  the  State  entirely  unprotected  and  committed 
depredations  in  every  direction.  He  practically  de 
stroyed  Richmond,  the  infant  capital,  and  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Legislature  who  had  fled  to  Charlottes- 
ville  were  very  nearly  captured.  Jefferson  had  a 
narrow  escape.  Monticello  was  protected  by  the 
British  commander,  but  his  other  estates  were  de 
stroyed. 

His  opponent  for  the  governorship  was  no  other 
than  John  Page,  a  classmate  at  William  and  Mary 
College,  and  in  those  days  his  most  intimate  friend, 
excepting  his  brother-in-law,  Dabney  Carr.  To 
him  he  wrote  the  sentimental  letters  that  are  quoted 
by  his  biographers  concerning  his  love  affairs.  The 
contest  for  the  governorship  was  a  warm  one,  but 
between  the  candidates  the  most  cordial  feelings 
continued.  Jefferson  was  elected  by  a  margin  of 
a  very  few  votes.  Twenty-three  years  later  Page 
was  again  nominated  for  governor,  and  President 
Jefferson  had  an  opportunity  to  congratulate  him 
upon  his  success. 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  congenial  or  de 
lightful  to  Jefferson  than  the  society  in  which  he 

MS 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

moved  in  Paris.  At  the  head  of  an  elegant  estab 
lishment,  as  an  American  and  the  friend  of  La 
fayette,  his  house  was  the  favorite  resort  of  all 
the  accomplished  and  gallant  young  French  offi 
cers  who  had  enthusiastically  taken  up  arms  in 
the  defence  of  liberty  in  the  New  World;  while 
as  a  philosopher  and  author  of  the  "  Notes  on 
Virginia,"  his  company  was  sought  for  and  enjoyed 
by  the  most  distinguished  savants  and  men  of 
science,  who  at  that  age  thronged  from  all  parts 
of  Europe  to  the  great  French  capital.  Nor  were 
the  ease  and  grace  of  his  address,  the  charm  of  his 
manners  and  conversation,  and  the  versatility  of 
his  learning  lost  upon  the  witty  and  handsome 
women  at  the  court  of  the  amiable  young  Louis 
XVI.  and  the  lovely  Marie  Antoinette.  His  social 
intercourse  with  them  was  gratifying,  and  the 
pleasant  friendships  formed  with  some  of  those 
he  met  in  Paris  continued  to  the  end  of  his  days, 
as  his  correspondence  testifies. 

At  first  he  suffered  the  usual  embarrassments  of 
American  ministers.  He  could  read  but  not  speak 
the  French  language,  and  was  sorely  puzzled  how 
to  arrange  his  style  of  living  so  that  he  might 
keep  his  expenses  within  his  salary  of  nine  thou 
sand  dollars  a  year.  The  first  difficulty  diminished 
every  hour,  though  he  never  trusted  himself  to 
write  in  French  on  any  matter  of  consequence; 
but  the  art  of  living  in  the  style  of  a  plenipotentiary 
upon  the  allowance  fixed  by  Congress  was  a  prob 
lem  to  the  end.  Nor  could  he  expect  much  revenue 
from  Virginia.  He  left  behind  him  a  list  of  debts 
arising  from  the  losses  and  devastation  of  the 
war  that  the  proceeds  of  his  crops  and  the  arrears 
of  his  salary  as  governor,  voted  by  the  Legisla 
ture,  did  not  satisfy. 

He  lived  with  the  easy  hospitality  of  Virginia, 
146 


JEFFERSON   IN   OFFICE 

which  harmonized  as  well  with  the  humor  of  the 
time  as  with  his  own  character  and  habits.  Few 
formal  dinners,  but  always  a  well-spread  table; 
no  grand  parties,  but  an  evening  circle  that  at 
tracted  the  people  he  desired  to  meet.  If  he  had 
a  difficult  question  of  diplomacy  to  discuss,  it  was 
usual  with  him  to  invite  the  parties  interested  to 
one  of  his  wholesome  "  family  dinners,"  and  after 
wards,  under  its  conciliating  influence,  introduce 
the  troublesome  topic.  That  prince  of  gossips  and 
story-tellers,  Baron  Grimm,  was  among  his  fa 
miliar  acquaintances.  Madame  De  Stael,  who  was 
married  during  Jefferson's  second  year  in  Paris, 
he  knew  both  as  the  daughter  of  Necker  and  as 
the  brilliant  young  wife  of  the  Swedish  ambassa 
dor. 

While  he  was  minister,  Ledyard,  the  Connecticut 
adventurer,  came  to  the  legation,  poor  and  disap 
pointed,  plagued  with  a  mania  to  roam  over  the 
earth.  He  had  sailed  with  Cook,  and  exposed  the 
barbarity  of  that  navigator ;  had  seen  on  the  west 
ern  coast  of  North  America  the  richest  of  all  fur- 
bearing  regions.  From  his  youth  Jefferson  had 
wondered  what  might  lie  between  Monticello  and 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  was  an  inherited  curiosity, 
for  all  Virginians  had  felt  it  from  the  time  when 
Captain  John  Smith  sailed  up  the  Chickahominy 
in  search  of  a  passage  to  the  South  Sea.  He  pro 
posed  to  Ledyard  to  make  his  way  through  Rus 
sia  to  Kamtchatka;  thence  by  some  chance  vessel 
to  what  we  now  call  Oregon;  and  then  explore 
the  unknown  wilderness  to  the  western  settlements 
of  the  United  States.  Through1  Baron  Grimm  he 
obtained  a  passport  and  permission  for  Ledyard 
to  cross  Siberia,  but  it  was  afterwards  revoked  by 
Catherine  the  Great. 

His  long  residence  in  Paris  made  him  an  ardent 
147 


THE  TRUE  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

admirer  of  the  French  people  and  an  enthusiastic 
champion  of  the  French  Revolution,  which  had  a 
powerful  influence  in  shaping  his  own  political  con 
victions,  and  at  the  same  time  inspired  him  with 
the  bitterest  prejudice  against  the  British  nation 
and  people,  although  he  frequently  admitted  the 
excellence  of  their  form  of  government.  He  was 
constantly  consulted  by  the  leaders  of  the  Revolu 
tion,  and  went  daily  to  Versailles  to  hear  the  de 
bates. 

His  prejudice  against  the  British  was  not  modi 
fied  by  a  visit  to  London,  where  he  was  presented 
to  the  king  and  queen  by  John  Adams,  and  was 
not  received  with  cordiality.  He  says :  "  It  was 
impossible  for  anything  to  be  more  ungracious  than 
their  notice  of  Mr.  Adams  and  myself."  He  never 
forgot  this  offence  to  his  dignity,  and  his  hostility 
did  not  soften  until  his  old  age,  when,  in  1823, 
he  remarked  to  President  Monroe,  that  "  we  should 
more  sedulously  cherish  a  cordial  friendship  for 
Great  Britain  as  the  nation  that  can  do  us  the  most 
harm  of  any  one  on  earth,  and  with  her  on  our 
side,  we  need  not  fear  the  whole  world/' 

Notwithstanding  his  admiration  for  France  and 
his  affection  for  the  French  people,  his  residence 
in  that  country  made  him  the  more  genuinely  an 
American.  He  advised  Monroe  to  visit  France, 
because,  he  said,  "it  will  make  you  adore  your 
own  country;  its  soil,  its  climate,  its  equality, 
its  liberty,  laws,  people  and  manners."  He  com 
pared  America  to  Heaven  and  France  to  Hell,  with 
England  as  an  intermediate  station. 

It  is  interesting  to  speculate  upon  what  might 
have  followed  if  Congress,  in  distributing  diplo 
matic  honors  among  the  founders  of  the  new  re 
public,  had  sent  John  Adams  to  France  and  Jef 
ferson  to  England;  for  the  plastic  mind  of  the 

148 


JEFFERSON  IN  OFFICE 

young  Virginian  received  impressions  during  his 
five  years  at  the  French  capital  which  remained 
forever,  and  had  a  powerful  influence  upon  his  pub 
lic  career  and  upon  the  policy  of  his  administration. 

Jefferson  did  much  to  confirm  the  French  people 
in  their  friendship  for  the  United  States  during  the 
five  years  he  spent  in  <  Paris  under  the  monarchy 
as  well  as  the  republic.  Only  once  in  all  that  time 
was  there  a  blunder,  and  this  through  no  fault 
of  his,  for  Lafayette,  for  whom  he  had  a  great 
affection  and  in  whom  he  reposed  full  confidence, 
without  consulting  him,  invited  a  group  of  the 
Revolutionary  leaders  to  dine  at  Jefferson's  house 
in  order  that  they  might  seek  his  advice.  Jefferson 
was  greatly  annoyed,  rebuked  Lafayette  for  his 
imprudence,  and  called  promptly  upon  the  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs  with  a  frank  explanation  and 
apology. 

Jefferson's  experience  as  Secretary  of  State  is 
discussed  at  length  in  other  chapters.  As  Vice- 
President  he  had  little  to  do,  because  the  require 
ments  of  his  office  were  limited,  and  President 
Adams  declined  to  admit  him  to  a  share  of  re 
sponsibility  in  the  administration  of  the  govern 
ment.  This  left  him  plenty  of  leisure  to  organize 
the  Democratic  party  and  promote  his  own  politi 
cal  advancement,  which  was  done  with  remark 
able  skill  and  resulted  in  his  election  as  Adams's 
successor  in  the  Presidency. 

Among  Jefferson's  first  acts  after  his  inaugura 
tion  was  to  write  an  affectionate  letter  to  Samuel 
Adams, — who,  at  more  than  eighty  years  of  age, 
was  then  living  in  retirement  in  Massachusetts, — 
thanking  him  for  his  support  and  good  will,  and 
saying :  "  I  address  a  letter  to  you,  my  very  dear 
and  ancient  friend,  the  fourth  of  March, — not  in 
deed  to  you  by  name,  but  through  the  medium  of 

149 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

my  fellow  citizens  whom  the  occasion  called  on 
me  to  address.  In  meditating  the  matter  of  that 
address  I  often  asked  myself  Is  this  exactly  in 
the  spirit  of  the  patriarch  Samuel  Adams?  Will 
he  approve  of  it  ?  How  I  lament  that  the  time  has 
deprived  me  of  your  aid,  but  give  us  your  coun 
sel,  my  friend,  and  give  us  your  blessing." 

Having  received  a  gratifying  reply,  he  wrote 
Samuel  Adams  again,  a  few  months  later,  closing 
an  affectionate  letter  thus :  "  May  that  kind  and 
overruling  Providence  which  has  so  long  spared 
you  to  our  wishes,  still  foster  your  remaining  years 
with  whatever  may  make  them  comfortable  to 
yourself  and  soothing  to  your  friends.  Accept 
this  cordial  salutation  of  your  affectionate  friend." 

He  promptly  wrote  to  Dr.  Priestley,  the  Uni 
tarian  scholar,  inviting  him  to  be  a  guest  at  the 
White  House ;  and  to  Thomas  Paine,  then  an  exile 
in  Paris,  living  in  poverty  and  squalor,  to  whom 
he  offered  an  office.  Paine  said  that  he  "  should 
like  to  be  sent  as  Secretary  of  Legation  to  the 
English  Court,  which  outlawed  me.  What  a  hub 
bub  it  would  create  at  the  king's  levee  to  see  Tom 
Paine  presented  by  the  American  ambassador.  All 
the  bishops  and  women  would  faint  away."  He 
also  selected  for  distinction  every  other  Republican 
and  personal  friend  who  had  suffered  from  the 
prejudices  of  the  people  or  the  attacks  of  the  Fed 
eralists,  and  opened  the  prison  doors  to  those  who 
had  been  convicted  under  the  alien  and  sedition 
laws. 

He  selected  for  his  Cabinet  college-bred  men 
who  were  identified  with  scientific  investigation  or 
had  aided  to  promote  the  material  interests  of  the 
country.  It  was  natural  that  he  should  name  James 
Madison,  his  closest  friend,  for  the  first  place.  Gal- 
latin,  the  famous  Swiss  savant  and  financier,  who 

150 


JEFFERSON   IN   OFFICE 

was  made  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was  the 
founder  of  the  glass  industry  in  this  country. 
Dearborn,  of  Maine,  the  new  Secretary  of  War, 
a  graduate  of  Harvard,  was  a  village  doctor  in 
New  Hampshire  when  a  horseman  brought  the 
news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington.  Before  the  end 
of  the  day  he  had  enlisted  sixty  men  and  was  lead 
ing  them  towards  Concord.  Robert  Smith,  Secre 
tary  of  the  Navy,  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton, 
provost  of  the  University  of  Maryland,  and  presi 
dent  of  the  Agricultural  Society  of  that  State. 
Gideon  Granger,  the  Postmaster-General,  educated 
at  Yale,  was  a  lawyer  of  high  distinction  and  had 
shown  his  public  spirit  by  donating  a  thousand 
acres  of  land  for  the  benefit  of  the  Erie  Canal. 
Chancellor  Livingston,  who  declined  a  seat  in  the 
Cabinet,  was  one  of  the  foremost  scholars  and  the 
most  liberal  patron  of  science  yet  seen  in  America. 
He  furnished  Robert  Fulton  the  money  to  build 
his  steamboat. 

Immediately  after  his  inauguration  Jefferson 
began  his  reforms,  and  we  find  by  his  diary  that 
his  first  act  was  to  order  the  removal  from  office 
of  all  of  the  eleventh-hour  officials  appointed  by 
President  Adams,  on  the  ground  that  their  nomi 
nations,  as  late  as  nine  o'clock  on  the  evening 
the  last  day  of  the  session,  some  of  them  within 
three  hours  of  the  expiration  of  his  official  term 
as  President,  were  improper  and  unlawful,  inas 
much  as  it  was  an  exercise  of  authority  belonging 
to  his  successor.  He  also  ordered  the  removal  of 
"  all  marshalls  and  attorneys  where  Federals  ex 
cept  in  particular  cases,"  and  he  notes  in  his  diary, 
as  one  exception,  a  marshal  in  Massachusetts  who 
"  thb  fed  he  is  moderate  &  prudent  &  will  be  re- 
pub."  His  reasons  for  removing  these  officials 
were :  "  The  courts  being  so  decidedly  Federal 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

irremovable,  it  is  believed  that  repub  attorneys  and 
marshals,  being  the  doors  of  entrance  into  the 
courts  are  indispensably  necessary  as  a  shield  to 
the  repub  part  of  our  fellow  cits,  which  I  believe 
is  the  main  body  of  the  people." 

Jefferson  believed  in  rotation  in  office,  and  a 
;hange  of  officials  with  a  change  of  administration. 
"  If  the  will  of  the  nation  manifested  by  their 
various  elections  calls  for  an  administration  of 
government  according  to  the  opinion  of  those 
elected,  displacements  are  necessary,"  he  declares, 
"  in  order  that  the  new  administration  may  have 
the  cordial  cooperation  of  its  subordinates/'  When 
first  advanced  this  was  called  a  revolutionary  idea, 
"  involving  the  principle  of  a  thorough  change  in 
subordinate  offices  with  the  change  of  adminis 
tration  in  order  that  the  political  principles  and 
sentiments  of  the  subordinates  may  be  the  same 
as  those  of  the  head."  It  created  a  great  sensation 
among  people  who  up  to  that  time  had  not  been 
divided  into  political  parties,  but  Jefferson  was 
deaf  to  remonstrances.  In  a  letter  to  James  Mon 
roe,  shortly  after  he  had  been  sworn  in  as  Presi 
dent  in  1 80 1,  he  said:  "I  have  firmly  refused 
to  follow  the  councils  of  those  who  have  desired 
the  giving  offices  to  some  of  their  leaders  (Feder 
alists)  in  order  to  reconcile.  I  have  given  and 
will  give  only  to  republicans  under  existing  cir 
cumstances.  But  I  believe  with  others  that  depri 
vation  of  office,  if  made  on  the  ground  of  political 
principles  alone,  would  revolt  our  new  Congress 
and  give  a  body  to  leaders  who  now  stand  alone. 
Some  I  know  must  be  made.  There  must  be  as 
few  as  possible,  .  .  .  according  to  the  impression 
we  perceive  them  to  make." 

However,  Jefferson  was  not  the  author  of  the 
spoils  system,  as  is  popularly  supposed.  Adams 

152 


JEFFERSON   IN   OFFICE 

was  more  of  a  "  spoilsman"  than  he.  Jefferson 
treated  his  political  opponents  liberally,  whether 
from  policy  or  principle.  Adams  presumed  upon 
his  generosity,  and  made  a  number  of  appointments 
during  the  closing  days  of  his  administration  which 
Jefferson  resented  and  declared  "  an  outrage  upon 
decency."  Adams  was  the  first  President  to  ap 
point  relatives  to  office,  including  his  own  son,  who 
was  commissioner  of  bankruptcy  at  Boston,  one  of 
the  most  profitable  offices  in  his  gift. 

This  Jefferson  believed  to  be  entirely  wrong, 
and  wrote  to  a  friend,  "  The  public  will  never  be 
made  to  believe  that  the  appointment  of  a  relative 
is  made  on  the  ground  of  merit  alone  uninfluenced 
by  family  views,  nor  can  they  ever  see  with  ap 
probation  offices  divided  out  as  family  property. 
Mr.  Adams  degraded  himself  infinitely  by  his  con 
duct  on  this  subject."  In  a  letter  to  J.  C.  Cabell, 
written  shortly  before  his  death,  Jefferson  said, 
"  In  the  course  of  the  trusts  I  have  exercised 
through  life  with  powers  of  appointment,  I  can 
say  with  truth  and  with  unspeakable  comfort  that 
I  never  did  appoint  a  relation  to  office,  and  that 
merely  because  I  never  saw  the  case  in  which 
some  one  did  not  offer  or  occur  better  qualified." 

Jefferson  was  not  in  favor  of  the  appointment 
of  women  to  office.  Gallatin  when  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  nominated  one,  but  was  stopped  by 
a  little  note  which  read :  "  T.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin : 
The  appointment  of  a  woman  to  office  is  an  innova 
tion  for  which  the  public  is  not  prepared  nor  am  I." 

He  was  opposed  to  a  candidate  for  office  ex 
pending  money  to  aid  in  his  election,  and  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  which  he 
prepared,  he  inserted  a  paragraph  that  "  no  person 
shall  be  capable  of  acting  in  any  office,  civil,  mili 
tary  or  ecclesiastical  who  had  so  expended  money." 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

Jefferson  was  very  exact  in  his  accounts  and 
noted  every  item  of  his  expenditures,  and  there  is 
no  record  of  any  contribution  for  political  pur 
poses.  He  even  put  down  the  fees  he  gave  the 
servants  at  his  wedding  and  the  shilling  that  he 
paid  for  admission  to  Ann  Hathaway's  Cottage 
at  Stratford,  but  there  is  not  a  dollar  of  political 
contribution  anywhere  referred  to,  except  on  the 
occasion  of  his  first  election  to  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  soon  after  he  became  of  age,  when  he  fur 
nished  punch  and  luncheon  to  the  voters,  according 
to  the  customs  of  the  time. 

Jefferson's  intentions^on  taking  the  Presidency, 
ere  admirable.  There  is~no  reason  to  believethat 
he  was  insincere  when  he  declared  his  conviction 
that  "  fitness  for  the  position,  and  respectable  and 
unexceptionable  character/'  should  be  required  for 
official  appointment,  and  that  political  prejudice 
should  not  cause  the  removal  of  a  competent  person 
or  the  appointment  of  an  incompetent  one.  These 
intentions,  however,  were  not  strictly  observed  in 
practice. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  administration  of  Jef 
ferson  there  were  only  four  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  officials  subject  to  appointment  by  the  Presi 
dent  and  confirmation  by  the  Senate.  During  his 
first  year  he  removed  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
of  those  who  had  been  appointed  by  his  predecessor. 
Of  these  forty  were  the  so-called  "  midnight"  ap 
pointments  made  by  John  Adams  within  a  few 
days  or  hours  of  the  expiration  of  his  term  of 
office.  Sixteen  were  consuls,  ten  were  commercial 
agents,  eleven  were  United  States  district  attor 
neys,  eighteen  United  States  marshals,  twenty-six 
collectors,  three  naval  officers,  six  surveyors,  four 
supervisors  of  revenue,  seventeen  justices  of  the 
peace,  and  the  rest  were  miscellaneous.  James 


JEFFERSON   IN   OFFICE 

Madison  had  eight  hundred  and  twenty-four  offi 
cials  subject  to  his  jurisdiction,  and  removed  one 
hundred  and  sixteen  of  those  appointed  by  his 
predecessor.  Monroe  was  more  generous,  and  re 
moved  but  sixty-eight. 

John  Adams  had  appointed  no  Republicans  to 
office ;  yet  he  expected  Jefferson  to  retain  Federal 
ists  who  had  held  places  but  a  few  days  or  weeks. 
"  The  republicans  have  been  excluded  from  all 
offices  from  the  first  origin  of  the  division  into 
republicans  and  federalists,"  Jefferson  said  in  reply. 
"  They  have  a  reasonable  claim  to  vacancies  until 
they  occupy  their  due  share."  He  announced  that 
he  intended  to  appoint  his  friends  rather  than  his 
opponents.  "  We  do  not  mean  to  leave  arms  in 
the  hands  of  our  active  enemies,"  he  said  apologeti 
cally,  /yet  I  hope  our  wisdom  will  grow  with  our 
power,  and  teach  us  that  the  less  we  use  our  power, 
the  greater  it  will  be.'y' 

A  system  of  espionage  for  reasons  for  removal 
was  established,  and  Levi  Lincoln  was  employed 
in  the  capacity  of  a  detective  to  pick  out  political 
offenders  against  the  principles  of  the  adminis 
tration  and  report  them  to  Jefferson,  leaving  the 
rest  to  him.  However,  Jefferson  himself  could  not 
approve  of  his  own  cause.  He  wrote  Levi  Lincoln, 
October  25,  1802:  "  I  still  think  our  original  idea  .. 
as  to  the  office  is  best,  i.e.,  to  depend  for  the  ob 
taining  a  just  participation  on  deaths,  resignations, 
and  delinquencies.  .  .  .  This  is  rather  a  slow  op 
eration,  but  it  is  sure  if  we  pursue  it  steadily,  which, 
however,  has  not  been  done  with  that  undeviating 
resolution  I  could  have  wished." 

While  studying  the  development  of  his  policy, 
one  is  impressed  with  the  growing  emphasis  placed 
upon  political  opinion  as  a  cause  for  removal. 
At  first  the  only  revenge  to  be  taken  was  removal 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

for  cause.  A  little  later  political  considerations 
entered,  and  good  men  were  sacrificed  for  the  sake 
of  gaining  party  influence.  Offensive  partisanship 
was  recognized  and  plans  were  made  to  detect  it. 

The  following  changes  in  the  civil  service  were 
made  during  Jefferson's  first  administration: 

5  district  judgeships  out  of 17 

14  district   attorneyships  out  of 22 

15  marshalships  out  of 22 

41  collectorships  out  of 82 

4  naval  officerships  out  of n 

18  suryeyorships  out  of 30 

67  various  positions  out  of  (about) 150 

164  334 

When  allowance  is  made  for  political  conver 
sions,  both  genuine  and  politic,  it  is  evident  that 
very  few  Federalists  were  left  in  office  at  the 
end  of  1804.  Added  to  the  evidence  furnished  by 
these  figures  is  a  letter  from  Jefferson  to  Duane, 
written  in  the  latter  part  of  1803,  and  stating  that 
every  possible  removal  had  been  made,  and  that 
of  three  hundred  and  sixteen  offices,  only  one  hun 
dred  and  thirty  remained  in  Federalist  hands. 

Some  of  these  removals  were  doubtless  made 
for  good  cause.  There  must  have  been  irregu 
larities  in  the  customs  service,  and  there  probably 
was  more  or  less  of  abuse  in  the  judiciary.  Jef 
ferson  admits  that  sixteen  of  his  removals  were 
for  political  reasons,  where  no  cause  existed,  the 
sole  motive  being  to  obtain  places  for  political 
followers.  In  a  letter  to  Joseph  Cooper  Nicholson 
he  says :  "  So  that  sixteen  only  have  been  removed 
in  the  whole  for  political  principles — that  is  to  say, 
to  make  some  room  for  some  participation  for  the 
Republicans." 

If  Jefferson  did  not  appreciate  and  apply  the 
full  meaning  of  the  spoils  system  he  at  least 

156 


JEFFERSON   IN    OFFICE 

recognized  the  claim  of  the  victors  to  a  just  par 
ticipation  of  the  spoils.  He  established  a  political 
standard  of  appointment,  which  afterwards  natu 
rally  developed  into  the  policy  of  Jackson  and 
Van  Buren.  His  conviction  that  he  was  doing 
the  country  a  service  by  freeing  it  from  the  con 
trol  of  monarchists  and  monocrats  may  excuse 
him  from  the  charge  of  being  influenced  to  any 
pronounced  degree  by  the  desire  to  reward  politi 
cal  followers  by  patronage;  but,  nevertheless, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  large  faction  of  his 
party  boldly  demanded  offices  and  obtained  what 
they  wished.  His  general  rules  for  removals  were 
official  misconduct  and  what  President  Cleveland 
afterwards  called  offensive  .partisanship  and  per 
nicious  activity.  His  rule  with  regard  to  col 
lectors  and  other  officials  who  had  the  handling 
of  money  was,  "  remove  no  collector  till  called 
on  for  acct,  that  as  many  may  be  remd  as  de 
faulters  as  are  such."  In  his  diary  under  date 
of  March  8,  1801,  we  find  the  following  entry, 
which  indicates  that  Jefferson  was  human: 
"  Maine  Parker  Marshall  to  be  removed  by  & 
by  a  very  violent  &  influential  &  industrious  fed 
and  put  in  not  very  fairly.  Jersey  turn  out  Tory 
collector  an  atrocious  aptment." 
'  After  a  few  days  in  Washington  as  President, 
hich  were  spent  as  before  at  Conrad's  boarding- 
house,  he  started  on  horseback  for  Monticello,  and 
the  government  ran  itself  nearly  two  months  while 
he  arranged  his  private  affairs  for  a  long  absence, 
packed  his  books,  and  got  Edward  Bacon,  his  over 
seer,  started  with  the  spring  ploughing.  When  he 
returned  he  brought  several  loads  of  goods  of 
various  kinds  from  Monticello  to  Washington,  and 
kept  a  wagon  going  regularly  between  the  two 
places. 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

VV  About  May  15,  1801,  the  serious  business  of  the 
\Presidency  began,  and  from  that  date  he  kept  a 
record  of  proceedings  in  Cabinet  meetings,  show 
ing  that  nearly  everything  of  importance  was  de 
cided  by  a  vote  as  if  the  President's  advisers  were 
a  deliberative  body.  Jefferson  was  the  first  Presi 
dent  to  adopt  that  plan.  He  reduced  the  patronage 
of  the  President  by  abolishing  several  unnecessary 
offices  that  had  been  created  for  the  benefit  of  John 
Adams's  friends  and  supporters ;  he  cut  down  the 
army  and  the  navy  by  relieving  from  active  service 
a  large  number  of  admirals,  generals,  and  other  su 
pernumerary  officers ;  he  reduced  the  salary  list  in 
the  executive  departments,  and  abolished  every 
sinecure  he  could  discover,  several  of  them  being 
held  by  men  who  had  gained  distinction  in  the 
Revolution  and  were  too  old  or  infirm  to  earn  a 
living.  Jefferson  took  the  ground  that  civil  pen 
sions  were  not  authorized  by  the  Constitution,  and 
that  his  official  duty  required  him  to  expend  no 
government  money  without  an  adequate  return. 
He  endeavored  to  simplify  the  administration  of 
the  different  departments,  and  abolished  a  great 
deal  of  red  tape  which  had  been  developed  from 
the  military  methods  of  Washington  and  his  staff. 

Then,  with  a  good  deal  of  gusto,  we  imagine,  he 
-•  >  abolished  the  formalities  that  had  been  introduced 
by  General  Washington  and  imitated  by  Adams; 
opening  the  door  of  the  executive  office  to  all 
comers,  and  receiving  his  callers  in  the  order  of 
their  arrival  instead  of  their  rank,  as  had  formerly 
been  the  case.  He  revoked  the  rule  which  set 
apart  certain  hours  and  days  for  social  and  business 
calls,  and  announced  that  the  President  would  see 
any  citizen  who  had  business  with  the  government 
at  any  time  it  was  convenient  for  him  to  call. 

He  discontinued  the  practice  of  assigning  frig- 
158 


JEFFERSON   IN    OFFICE 

ates  for  the  conveyance  of  ministers  plenipotentiary 
across  the  ocean;  he  declined  to  write  letters  of 
condolence  to  the  widows  and  families  of  deceased 
officers. 

He  objected  to  the  celebration  of  birthdays,  say 
ing  :  "I  have  declined  to  let  my  birthday  be  known 
and  have  engaged  my  family  not  to  communicate 
it.  The  only  birthday  that  I  recognize  is  that  of 
my  country's  liberties."  He  disapproved  the  great 
ball  that  was  given  in  Philadelphia  in  honor  of 
Washington's  birthday.  "  This  is  at  least  very 
indelicate/'  he  said,  "  and  probably  excites  uneasy 
sensations  in  some.  I  see  in  it,  however,  that  the 
birthdays  which  have  been  kept  have  been  not  those 
of  the  Presidents  but  of  the  Generals."  Jefferson 
thought  that  he  discovered  in  the  birthday  celebra 
tion  of  certain  persons  a  germ  of  aristocratic  dis 
tinction  which  it  was  his  duty  to  crush. 

Jefferson  was  also  opposed  to  official  mourning, 
and  when  it  was  proposed  in  honor  of  Commodore 
Barry,  a  distinguished  naval  officer,  he  wrote  Dr. 
Benjamin  Rush  as  follows :  "  The  first  step  into 
such  an  undertaking  ought  to  be  well  weighed. 
On  the  death  of  Dr.  Franklin  the  king  and  conven 
tion  of  France  went  into  mourning.  So  did  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States. 
The  Senate  refused.  I  proposed  to  General  Wash 
ington  that  the  executive  department  should  wear 
mourning.  He  declined  it,  because  he  said  he 
should  not  know  where  to  draw  the  line,  if  he  once 
began  the  ceremony.  Mr.  Adams  was  then  vice 
President,  and  I  thought  General  Washington  had 
his  eye  on  him,  who  he  certainly  did  not  love. 
I  told  him  the  world  had  grown  so  broad  that  a 
line  between  himself  and  Dr.  Franklin  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  residue  of  mankind  on  the  other,  that 
we  might  wear  mourning  for  them,  and  the  ques- 

159 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

tion  still  remained  new  and  undecided  as  to  all 
others.  He  thought  it  best  however,  to  avoid  it. 
On  these  considerations  alone,  however  well  af 
fected  to  the  merit  of  Commodore  Barry,  I  think 
it  prudent  not  to  engage  myself  in  a  practice  which 
may  become  embarrassing." 

The  weekly  levee  introduced  by  Washington  and 
continued  by  Adams  was  abolished.  The  society 
people  of  Washington,  who  had  appreciated  and 
enjoyed  the  social  functions  introduced  by  Presi 
dent  Adams  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  which 
were  almost  the  only  formal  gatherings  at  that 
date,  protested  against  the  innovation,  and  by  com 
mon  consent  gathered  at  the  White  House  at  the 
usual  hour  on  Tuesday,  the  day  on  which  President 
Adams  had  held  his  levee,  attired  in  their  gayest 
raiments.  Jefferson,  having  in  some  way  received 
an  intimation  of  the  conspiracy,  went  off  for  a 
longer  horseback  ride  than  usual.  On  his  return 
he  feigned  surprise  at  finding  the  parlors  of  the 
President's  house  filled  with  guests,  but  assumed 
that  they  were  there  by  accident.  He  entered  the 
group,  wearing  his  riding  costume,  splashed  with 
mud  and  wet  with  perspiration,  greeted  them  cor 
dially,  apologized  for  his  appearance,  excused  him 
self,  and  then  passed  upstairs  to  his  office,  leaving 
them  to  laugh  over  the  manner  in  which  they  had 
been  outwitted;  and  that  was  the  last  of  the 
levees. 

His  next  radical  change  was  in  the  manner  of 
addressing  Congress.  During  the  two  previous 
administrations  the  practice  of  the  British  Parlia 
ment  had  been  followed,  both  houses  assembling 
in  the  Senate  Chamber  to  hear  a  speech  from  the 
President  at  the  opening  of  the  session.  There 
was  a  procession  to  and  from  the  Capitol,  the 
President  riding  in  a  coach  drawn  by  six  horses 

160 


JEFFERSON   IN   OFFICE 

and  escorted  by  committees  representing  the  two 
houses  and  the  members  of  the  Cabinet,  who  rode 
in  coaches  drawn  by  four  horses.  After  hearing 
his  speech  the  two  houses  of  Congress  separated 
and  each  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  an  ad 
dress  in  reply.  These  addresses  furnished  a  pre 
text  for  political  eulogies  and  provoked  long 
political  debates,  the  minority  striving  to  pre 
vent  the  majority  from  enjoying  a  political  ad 
vantage,  while  the  latter  made  use  of  the  occa 
sion  to  frame  a  useful  campaign  document.  After 
the  address  had  been  adopted  both  houses  of 
Congress  proceeded  in  a  procession  to  the  Presi 
dent's  mansion,  where  they  stood  around  him  in 
a  solemn  semicircle  while  one  of  their  number 
read  to  him  what  he  had  already  seen  many  times 
in  the  newspapers,  together  with  the  debate  upon 
it.  It  was  customary  for  him  to  make  a  short 
formal  acknowledgment,  congratulate  the  members 
of  Congress  upon  their  good  health  and  the  pros 
perity  of  the  country,  and  shake  hands  with  them 
individually  before  they  returned  to  the  Capitol 
and  commenced  the  business  of  the  session.  These 
formalities  usually  wasted  two  or  three  weeks  of 
time  and  excited  political  passions.  That  was  one 
of  Jefferson's  objections.  Another  was  that  they 
were  in  imitation  of  kingly  customs,  although  his 
physical  inability  to  deliver  a  speech  may  have 
been  a  third.  Hence,  without  revealing  his  pur 
pose  in  advance,  when  Congress  gathered  on  the 
morning  of  December  8,  1801,  Meri wether  Lewis, 
private  secretary  to  the  President,  appeared  at 
the  door  of  the  Senate  and  handed  to  the  ser- 
geant-at-arms  a  note  addressed  to  the  Vice-Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  which  read  as  follows : 

"  SIR  :    The  circumstances  under  which  we  find  ourselves 
at  this   place   rendering   inconvenient   the  mode  heretofore 
ii  161 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

practiced  of  making  by  personal  address  the  first  communi 
cations  between  the  Legislative  and  Executive  branches, 
I  have  adopted  that  by  message,  as  used  on  all  subsequent 
occasions  through  the  session.  In  doing  this,  I  have  had 
principal  regard  to  the  convenience  of  the  legislature,  to 
the  economy  of  their  time,  to  their  relief  from  the  embar 
rassment  of  immediate  answers  on  subjects  not  yet  fully 
before  them,  and  the  benefits  thence  resulting  to  public 
affairs.  Trusting  that  a  procedure  founded  on  these  mo 
tives  will  meet  their  approbation,  I  beg  leave,  through  you, 
sir,  to  communicate  the  enclosed  copy  with  the  documents 
accompanying  it,  to  the  honorable,  the  Senate,  and  pray  you 
to  accept  for  yourself  and  them,  the  homage  of  my  high 
regard  and  consideration." 

A  similar  message  was  sent  to  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  although  it  created  a  sensa 
tion  at  the  time,  Congress  soon  recognized  it  as 
a  practical  reform,  and  it  has  ever  since  been  fol 
lowed.  The  next  year  Congress  appointed  a  com 
mittee  to  wait  upon  the  President  and  inform  him 
that  they  were  assembled  and  ready  to  receive  any 
communications  that  he  might  desire  to  make. 

Jefferson's  administrative  ability  was  not  fairly 
tested  during  his  term  as  President.  The  United 
States  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  wras  a  small, 
feeble,  and  primitive  community.  The  conditions 
made  it  easy  for  the  President  to  exercise  the  duties 
of  the  office,  and  measured  by  the  present  standard, 
his  responsibilities  were  comparatively  light.  The 
executive  departments  at  the  capital  employed  the 
services  of  only  about  one  hundred  persons,  while 
there  are  now  19,446  names  upon  the  pay-rolls  of 
the  General  Government  in  the  District  of  Colum 
bia  alone,  not  including  the  army  and  navy,  and 
an  expenditure  of  $19,628,505  for  salaries  for  the 
year.  When  Jefferson  was  Secretary  of  State  he 
had  the  assistance  of  a  secretary,  or  amanuensis, 
a  chief  clerk,  and  a  translator  of  foreign  languages. 
At  present  the  Secretary  of  State  has  three  assist 
ants  and  ninety-five  clerks  and  translators,  which 

162 


JEFFERSON   IN   OFFICE 

is  too  small  a  force  to  do  the  business  promptly 
and  properly.  President  Jefferson  conducted  the 
official  business  of  the  White  House  with  the  aid 
of  Meriwether  Lewis.  President  McKinley  re 
quires  the  services  of  twenty-seven  clerks,  stenogra 
phers,  and  typewriters. 

Jefferson  exercised  authority  over  about  1400 
subordinates  in  the  employ  of  the  government,  not 
including  the  army  and  navy.  President  McKinley 
is  responsible  for  the  good  behavior  of  more  than 
250,000  employes.  In  1800  there  were  900  post- 
offices  in  the  country,  whose  annual  receipts  were 
$320,000,  and  2,900,000  letters  were  carried  in 
the  mails.  In  1900  there  were  76,688  post-offices, 
whose  receipts  were  $102,354,579,  and  3,309,754,- 
607  letters  and  587,815,250  postal  cards  were  car 
ried  in  the  mails. 

In  1800  the  revenues  of  the  government  were 
$10,808,745,  or  $2.04  per  capita  of  the  population, 
and  the  expenditures  were  $7,411,370,  or  $1.40  per 
capita.  In  1900  the  expenditures  were  $487,- 
713,792,  or  $6.39  per  capita,  and  the  revenues  were 
$567,240,852,  or  $7.43  per  capita. 

The  imports  of  foreign  merchandise  in  1800 
were  $91,252,768;  in  1900  they  were  $935,550,- 
635 ;  the  exports  of  domestic  merchandise  in  1800 
were  $70,971,780,  and  in  1900  they  were  $1,598,- 
407,141.  ' 

In  1800  the  area  of  the  United  States  was 
909,050  square  miles.  In  1900  it  is  3,846,595 
square  miles. 

The  wealth  of  the  country  at  the  beginning  of 
the  century  was  $1,800,000,000;  in  1890,  by  the 
returns  of  the  eleventh  census,  it  was  $63,037,- 
091,197,  and  according  to  the  estimates  of  the  offi 
cials  of  the  twelfth  census  it  had  increased  to 
$94,000,000,000  in  1900. 

163 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

In  1800  the  value  of  the  products  of  the  industry 
of  the  people  was  nominal;  no  attempt  was  made 
to  ascertain  the  facts.  In  1850,  at  the  middle  of 
the  century,  it  was  reported  to  be  $1,029,106,798. 
At  the  end  of  the  century  the  total  was  $18,222,- 


The  cash  in  the  Treasury  when  Jefferson  was 
inaugurated  was  $i  14,000  ;  on  the  first  of  January, 
1901,  it  was  $475,769,122. 

In  1800  the  population  of  the  country  was 
5,308,483,  a  little  more  than  that  of  the.  State  of 
Illinois  in  1900.  New  York  State  had  a  population 
of  589,000,  which  has  since  increased  to  7,268,009, 
or  thirty  per  cent,  more  than  the  total  population 
of  the  thirteen  colonies  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century.  The  centre  of  population  was  at  Balti 
more;  the  boundary  of  civilization  was  the  Alle 
gheny  Mountains.  It  required  three  days  to  go 
from  New  York  to  Boston,  which  is  now  a  journey 
of  five  hours,  two  days  from  New  York  to  Phila 
delphia,  which  is  now  one  of  two  hours,  and  three 
weeks  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg,  which  is 
now  one  of  eight  hours. 

Jefferson  intended  that  the  new  nation  should 
j/j/'be  a  democracy,  and  he  would  rather  have  let  the 
whole  world  perish  than  that  this  purpose  should 
fail.  Nevertheless  he  was  the  most  absolute  mon 
arch  that  ever  sat  in  the  Presidential  chair.  Al 
though  he  introduced  the  practice  of  discussing 
all  matters  in  his  Cabinet  and  deciding  questions 
of  importance  by  vote,  his  powerful  individuality 
and  persuasive  reasoning  controlling  his  advisers 
in  his  official  family  and  in  Congress.  He  exer 
cised  an  influence  in  both  houses  of  the  national 
legislature  and  with  the  people  that  has  never  been 
equalled  by  any  of  his  successors.  He  formed  a 
powerful  party,  he  directed  its  action,  and  he  se- 

164 


JEFFERSON   IN   OFFICE 

lected  its  principles,  but  he  never  assumed  the 
attitude  of  a  "boss."  He  remained  in  the  back 
ground,  sheltered  by  the  dignity  of  his  office.  He 
worked  with  singular  silence  and  mystery,  com 
municated  his  wishes  to  those  who  were  loyal  to 
him,  and  selected  those  who  were  able  to  carry 
them  out  with  the  greatest  sagacity.  There  has 
never  been  a  more  subtle  or  skilful  strategist  in 
American  politics;  there  has  never  been  a  more 
accurate  observer  of  public  sentiment  nor  a  better 
judge  of  human  nature. yGallatin,  his  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  for  eigfir  years  and  his  intimate 
friend  for  life,  said  that  Jefferson's  greatest  weak 
ness  was  his  want  of  a  sense  of  humor,  but  at  the 
same  time  it  protected  him  from  much  mortifica 
tion,  because  it  made  him  insensible  to  ridicule.^ 

He  differed  from  Washington  in  that  he  was  the 
author  of  nearly  all  the  important  state  papers 
issued  during  his  administration.  John  W.  Foster 
in  his  "  Century  of  American  Diplomacy'7  says : 
"  No  other  of  our  public  men  has  so  fully  im 
pressed  his  personality  upon  the  country.  No  one 
has  had  so  great  an  influence  in  moulding  the 
political  sentiments  of  his  countrymen.  He  had 
serious  defects  of  character,  but  through  these 
shine  resplendent  his  devotion  to  democratic  prin 
ciples  and  an  unfaltering  faith  in  the  people." 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  founder  of  the  party 
whose  creed  is  that  all  authority  belongs  to  the 
people  alone  was  the  greatest  political  dictator 
ever  known  in  the  United  States,  but  it  is  equally 
true  that  the  Democratic  party  has  never  been  suc 
cessful  except  under  the  direction  and  leadership  of 
a  dictator.^ 

J/With  Madison  at  the  head  of  the  Department 

dot  State  and  Gallatin  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 

President  Jefferson's  first  term  was  a  conspicuous 

165 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

success  in  the  management  of  both  foreign  rela 
tions  and  domestic  affairs.  He  succeeded  in  quiet 
ing  the  prejudices  of  the  Federalists  and  winning 
the  confidence  of  the  commercial  interests  of  the 
country,  while  the  annexation  of  Louisiana  Terri 
tory  was  the  crowning  triumph^y  Even  Massa 
chusetts,  the  nursery  of  Federalism,  gave  him  its 
electoral  vote  at  the  second  election,  when  the  re 
sult  was  a  personal  rather  than  a  political  victory. 
yj/  Jefferson  was  then  the  idol  of  the  nation ;  he  had 
/A  vindicated  himself  from  the  suspicions  of  the  Fed 
eralists  and  from  the  slanders  of  the  Federalist 
newspapers.  Yet  he  said  he  was  anxious  to  retire 
from  public  life  at  the  end  of  his  fourth  year.  He 
was  weary  of  the  cares  of  office  and  the  persecu-^ 
tions  of  the  politicians.  He  wrote  Adams,  "  He 
is  the  happiest  man  of  whom  the  world  says  the 
least,  good  or  bad."  His  philosophy  was  sorely 
tried  by  his  perplexities  in  dispensing  patronage, 
as  has  been  the  experience  of  every  President. 
"  Every  office  becoming  vacant,"  he  said,  "  every 
appointment  made,  means  one  ingrate  and  a  hun 
dred  enemies."  General  Grant's  estimate  was  more 
moderate;  he  considered  that  he  made  thirteen 
enemies  by  every  appointment. 
\Y''  Among  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Jeffer- 
'sonian  school  of  politics  were  rotation  in  office  and 
a  single  term  of  the  Presidency.  Jefferson  was 
very  much  dissatisfied  because  they  were  omitted 
from  the  Constitution,  and  criticised  General 
Washington  for  accepting  a  reelection.  But  as  his 
first  term  was  approaching  an  end  we  find  him 
scheming  for  a  renomination  and  justifying  it.  on 
the  ground  that  his  work  was  incomplet&^Tlt  was 
necessary  for  him  to  remain  in  office  until  the 
authority  of  the  people  was  recognized  and  obeyed. 
To  the  public  he  said :  "I  sincerely  regret  that  the 

1 66 


JEFFERSON   IN   OFFICE 

unbounded  calumnies  of  the  Federal  party  have 
obliged  me  to  throw  myself  on  the  verdict  of  my 
country  for  trial.  My  great  desire  having  been 
to  retire  at  the  end  of  my  present  term  to  a  life 
of  tranquillity,  and  it  was  my  decided  purpose 
when  I  entered  the  office."  To  John  Rutledge  he 
wrote :  "  Without  concert  or  expectation  on  my 
part,  my  name  was  again  brought  forward.  On 
my  salvation  I  declare  it.  I  have  no  ambition 
to  govern  men,  no  passion  which  would  lead  me 
to  ride  in  a  storm."  At  the  same  time  he  was 
informing  his  political  managers  that  he  would 
not  permit  himself  to  be  driven  out  of  politics  by 
the  criticism  of  his  official  conduct. 

'Jefferson  was  always  protesting  against  being 
/pressed  into  public  service ;  he  was  always  express 
ing  a  desire  to  escape  honors  and  evade  responsi 
bilities,  yet  he  never  declined  a  nomination,  ac 
cepting  every  office  that  was  tendered  him  and 
every  honor  that  came  in  his  way.  He  continually 
wrote  his  daughters  and  his  friends  of  his  desire 
to  return  to  the  tranquillity  of  his  farm  and  home, 
and  at  the  same  time  we  know  by  abundant  evi 
dence  that  he  was  as  eager  to  retain  his  power 
and  as  anxious  to  continue  his  leadership  as  any 
politician  that  ever  lived.  Perhaps  his  vehement 
protestations  to  John  Rutledge  and  others  were 
intended  to  deceive  his  own  conscience  as  well 
as  his  friends,  for  when  the  caucus  of  Republicans, 
or  Democrats,  as  they  were  afterwards  called, 
absolutely  under  his  influence,  and  with  his  consent, 
nominated  him  for  a  second  term  he  disregarded 
his  own  teachings  and  was  punished  by  another 
term  of  office  which  brought  him  nothing  but  care, 
humiliation,  and  sorrow.  %( 

When  the  election  took  place  his  influence  and 
popularity  were  demonstrated  beyond  his  expecta- 

167 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

tion.  It  was  an  overwhelming  victory,  the  greatest 
ever  enjoyed  by  any  political  party  in  the  United 
States.  Jefferson  received  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
two  out  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-six  votes  in 
the  electoral  college,  while  he  had  received  but 
seventy-three  out  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
at  the  previous  election,  y  He  was  easily  elated, 
and  the  flattery  of  the  popular  vote  excited  his 
vanity  more  than  anything  that  could  have  oc 
curred.  He  wrote  a  friend  at  this  time  that  under 
his  conciliatory  influence  the  two  political  parties 
"  had  almost  melted  into  one."  He  found  himself 
not  only  the  recognized  leader  of  four-fifths  of  the 
people,  but  possessing  the  most  complete  and  ab 
solute  authority  ever  exercised  by  a  President  of 
the  United  States.^KIn  tnfe  Louisiana  Territory  he 
ruled  with  despotic  powerX  His  second  inaugural 
address  was  a  shout  of  triumph.  After  his  death 
there  was  found  among  his  manuscripts  a  memo 
randum  to  the  effect  that  in  his  first  message  he  had 
declared  the  principles  which  were  to  guide  him 
in  his  administration  of  the  government,  and  in 
the  second  inaugural  he  proclaimed  their  success 
and  the  results  they  had  accomplished.  He  boasted 
that  he  had  made  democracy  respectable  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world.  ^1 

But  he  soon  began  to  have  trouble  in  Congress 
and  in  the  Democratic  party.  Because  of  excessive 
numbers  it  divided.  The  same  phenomenon  has 
occurred  since.  Wise  politicians  fear  too  large  a 
majority  in  any  cause.  An  excess  of  leaders  al 
ways  provokes  dissension.  In  1805  for  that  reason 
the  Democrats  began  to  split  into  factions.  The 
old  Republicans  of  1798  and  1800,  the  original 
founders  and  leaders  of  the  party,  began  to  criti 
cise  and  resent  the  activity  and  aggressiveness  of 
recent  recruits,  and  showed  a  determination  to 

168 


JEFFERSON  IN  OFFICE 

fight  for  the  control  of  the  organization  they  had 
founded.  An  imprudent  act  on  the  part  of  Gideori 
Granger,  Postmaster-General,  in  accepting  a  fee  to 
promote  the  passage  of  a  land  bill  then  pending 
in  Congress,  involved  the  administration  in  these 
factional  fights  and  afforded  an  opportunity  for 
Jefferson's  enemies  to  drag  him  into  the  quarrel. 
The  feeling  was  so  intense  that  the  two  sons-in- 
law  of  the  President,  Randolph  and  Eppes,  were 
impelled  to  vote  against  his  wishes.  A  shadow  of 
corruption  was  thrown  over  the  entire  adminis 
tration.  Then  foreign  affairs  assumed  a  threaten 
ing  look.  When  he  tried  to  buy  Florida  he  found 
himself  involved  in  complications  with  Spain, 
France,  and  England.  Then  he  became  possessed 
of  a  mania  to  pay  the  public  debt  before  the  close 
of  his  administration.  This  idea  took  control  of 
his  mind  and  appeared  to  monopolize  it.  Every 
line  of  policy,  every  official  act,  seemed  to  be 
governed  by  its  possible  effect  upon  the  public 
treasury,  and  in  order  to  avoid  unnecessary  ex 
penditures  for  defence  and  armament  Jefferson  re 
versed  the  policy  he  had  pursued  from  the  begin 
ning  of  his  public  career,  abandoned  his  bold  and 
independent  attitude  towards  the  European  powers, 
and  permitted  Spain  to  insult  and  humiliate  the 
United  States.  If  he  had  defied  Spain,  war  might 
have  been  declared,  but  he  would  have  been  sup 
ported  by  the  unanimous  sentiment  of  the  country 
and  assumed  the  leadership  of  a  great  popular 
movement  that  would  have  outlasted  the  century; 
but  he  took  the  ground  that  the  country  could 
better  suffer  a  loss  of  dignity  than  waste  its  money 
on  a  war,  and  from  that  time,  as  the  French  min 
ister  wrote  his  government,  Jefferson's  adminis 
tration  "  allowed  itself  to  be  outraged  every  day 
and  accepted  all  the  humiliation  offered." 

169 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

"  If  we  go  to  war  now,"  Jefferson  said,  "  I  fear 
we  may  renounce  forever  the  hope  of  seeing  an 
end  of  our  national  debt.  If  we  can  keep  at  peace 
eight  years  longer,  our  income,  liberated  from  debt 
will  be  adequate  to  any  war."  That  was  the  key 
to  his  policy.  He  declared  that  under  no  circum 
stances  would  he  consent  to  war;  he  would  close 
the  ports  of  his  country,  abandon  her  commerce, 
shut  up  the  people  like  the  Chinese,  and  let  the 
world  outside  kill  each  other  as  much  as  they 
liked.  At  the  same  time,  fearing  that  his  benevo 
lent  purpose  would  be  ridiculed  by  foreign  nations 
and  bring  him  into  contempt  with  his  own  people, 
he  decided  to  adopt  two  policies, — one_ publjc^  to 
satisfy  the  belligerent  spirit  that  had  been  aroused 
in  the  country  and  to  impress  foreign  nations,  and 
the  other  secret,  by  which  he  expected  to  reconcile 
his  differences  with  France  and  Spain  and  buy 
peace.  He  wrote  two  messages  to  Congress  and 
framed  the  two  replies  which  he  wished  Congress 
to  return  to  him, — one  public  and  one  secret.  The 
public  resolution  "  pledged  the  lives  and  fortunes 
of  the  people  to  maintain  the  dignity  of  the  coun 
try  against  the  aggressions  of  foreign  nations"  and 
appropriated  all  the  money  in  the  Treasury  for  that 
purpose.  The  secret  resolution  authorized  him  to 
purchase  peace  at  any  price  and  provided  the 
money. 

THese  resolutions  and  messages  were  referred 
to  a  committee  of  which  John  Randolph,  his  bit 
terest  enemy,  was  chairman.  Instead  of  making 
the  situation  clear,  Jefferson  confused  it  the  more 
and  convicted  himself  of  duplicity.  The  resolu 
tions  he  prepared  were  suppressed,  the  committee 
refused  to  recommend  an  appropriation  for  the 
purchase  of  Florida,  and  reported  resolutions  which 
were  an  insult  to  Spain  and  intended  to  provoke 

170 


JEFFERSON   IN   OFFICE 

war.  The  frightened  President  went  to  the  Capitol 
in  person,  rallied  his  forces,  defeated  the  opposition 
under  Randolph,  and  secured  authority  and  an 
appropriation  for  the  purchase  of  all  the  Spanish 
territory  north  of  the  Rio  Grande.  It  was  a  costly 
victory  and  the  end  of  his  influence.  He  saw  his 
most  devoted  followers  waver  in  their  allegiance: 
he  was  compelled  to  temporize  with  his  enemies 
and  to  endure  private  taunts  and  public  humilia 
tion.  He  felt  keenly  the  disrespect  with  which 
he  was  treated  by  members  of  Congress  who  only 
a  few  months  before  were  eager  for  his  ap 
proval.  He  began  to  write  melancholy  complaints 
that  his  friends  were  repaying  his  kindness  with 
ingratitude,  that  those  whom  he  had  elevated  were 
trying  to  tear  the  laurels  from  his  brow,  and  that 
an  ungrateful  country  no  longer  appreciated  his 
services. 

He  tried  to  divert  the  mind  of  the  country  from 
war  by  recommending  Congress  to  abolish  the 
slave-trade,  to  build  a  national  system  of  roads 
and  canals,  to  found  a  national  university,  to  for 
tify  the  coast  and  organize  a  national  militia,  and 
introduced  various  other  propositions;  but  they 
made  no  impression.  The  insults  of  England, 
France,  and  Spain  were  too  keenly  felt  by  the 
public  to  accept  any  diversion,  and  the  political 
divisions  in  Congress  were  too  wide  to  heal. 
\Y  As  Jefferson's  troubles  increased  he  became  less 
and  less  competent  to  meet  them.  There  was  an 
extraordinary  change  in  his  disposition  and 
methods.  He  lost  his  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
vigor.  His  self-reliance,  which  had  been  one  of  his 
most  striking  characteristics,  disappeared.  He  be 
came  indifferent  to  public  sentiment  and  ignored 
attacks  which  would  have  aroused  his  impulsive 
nature  to  instant  retaliation  had  they  occurred  dur- 

171 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

ing  the  first  term  of  his  Presidency.  Towards 
the  end  of  his  term  he  even  declined  to  exercise 
his  official  authority,  and  did  what  no  other  Presi 
dent  ever  thought  of  doing  or  even  conceived  that 
he  had  a  right  to  do,  threw  the  burden  and  respon 
sibility  of  the  government  upon  his  successor&say- 
ing :  "I  have  thought  it  right  to  take  no  part  in 
proposing  measures,  the  execution  of  which  will 
devolve  upon  my  successor.  Our  situation  is  truly 
difficult.  We  have  been  pressed  by  the  belligerents 
to  the  very  wall,  and  all  further  retreat  is  imprac 
ticable."  It  was  the  truth.  As  Henry  Adams  says 
in  his  life  of  Gallatin,  "  There  seems  to  have  been 
no  form  of  insult  which  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his 
administration  did  not  swallow,  and  between  the 
xquisitely  exasperating  satire  of  Mr.  Canning 
the  British  Premier)  and  the  peremptory  brutal- 
ty  of  Bonaparte  he  was  almost  extinguished." 

Fortunately  Madison,  the  President-elect,  was 
he  head  of  the  Cabinet,  and  he  was  "  very  slow 
n  taking  ground,  but  very  firm  when  the  storm 
arises."     He  took  control  of  affairs,  with  the  ad- 
ice  and  aid  of  Gallatin,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury,  and  during  the  next  few  months,  until  his 
>wn  inauguration,  directed  the  policy  of  the  gov 
ernment  in  Jefferson's  name.     On  two  subjects, 
lowever,  Jefferson  was  firm.    On  all  others  he  was 
weak.     He  was  determined  to  avoid  war  and  debt, 
rle  would  submit  to  any  humiliation,  he  would 
adopt  any  other  measures,  but  he  would  not  fight  or 
)orrow  money.    The  complaints  made  of  him  were 
imilar  to  that  which  caused  him  so  much  distress 
while  he  was  Governor  of  Virginia.     He  refused 
o  provide  for  the  defence  of  the  country,   and 
would  not  permit  the  expenditure  of  money  for 
nunitions  of  war,  although  American  seamen  were 
)eing  impressed  into  the  British  service  and  Amer- 

172 


JEFFERSON   IN   OFFICE 

ican  vessels  were  being  fired  upon  by  British  priva 
teers.  He  became  a  monomaniac  on  the  subject 
of  the  payment  of  the  public  debt. 

When  Congress  met  for  its  last  term  during  his 
Presidency  Mr.  Jefferson  submitted  a  milk-and- 
water  message  in  which  he  proposed  no  policy  and 
avoided  the  expression  of  an  opinion.  Taken  apart 
from  its  surroundings  and  read  without  the  signa 
ture  no  one  would  have  attributed  the  authorship 
to  him.  This  threw  a  divided  and  distracted  Con 
gress  into  even  greater  disorder,  and,  fearing  that 
the  Federalists  might  seize  control,  Madison  and 
Gallatin  made  a  formal  appeal  to  the  President, 
begging  him  to  adopj^"some  precise  and  distinct 
course."// They  were  themselves  undetermined  as 
to  the  rest  policy  to  pursue,  but  were  willing  to 
support  Jefferson  in  any  measure  "  so  that  we  may 
point  out  a  decisive  course  either  way  to  our 
friends."  But  Jefferson  declined  to  take  the  re 
sponsibility  and  described  himself  as  "  an  unmed- 
dleing  listener."  Realizing  that  something  must 
be  done  to  reunite  the  party  in  Congress,  to  retain 
the  respect  of  foreign  nations,  and  to  secure  sup 
port  for  the  incoming  administration,  they  asked 
Congress  in  his  name  for  further  authority  to  en 
force  the  "  embargo,"  and  a  law,  famous  in  history 
as  the  "  Enforcement  Act,"  was  rushed  through  in 
secret  session.  It  was  denounced  as  unjust,  op 
pressive,  unconstitutional,  and  tyrannical,  and  one 
year  before  Jefferson  would  not  have  tolerated  such 
an  arbitrary  measure  for  a  moment;  but  Madison 
arid  Gallatin  believed  it  necessary  for  the  salvation 
of  the  administration  and  the  safety  of  the  country. 
To  avoid  friction  with  England  and  France,  Ameri 
can  shipowners  were  required  to  tie  up  their  ves 
sels.  Jefferson  offered  the  ingenious  justification 
that  it  was  better  for  our  ships  to  remain  in  port, 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

where  they  were  safe,  rather  than  expose  them 
selves  to  the  dangers  of  the  sea. 

But  the  people  would  not  submit.  Actuated 
by  a  desire  to  earn  an  honest  living,  and  inspired 
by  a  patriotism  and  courage  which  the  President 
did  not  show,  the  shipmasters  of  New  England 
were  willing  to  defy  the  British  privateers  and  take 
their  chances.  They  demanded  a  right  to  do  so, 
and  Congress  repealed  the  Enforcement  Act  after 
three  months  of  stormy  debate,  in  which  a  few 
of  Jefferson's  friends  stood  loyally  by  him  in  Con 
gress  and  defended  his  administration  with  inge 
nuity,  eloquence,  and  a  sacrifice  of  reputation.  The 
two  political  parties  had  completely  changed  places. 
The  Democrats  in  defending  the  administration 
were  compelled  to  justify  a  policy  of  centralization 
which  they  had  always  opposed,  while  the  Feder 
alists  stood  on  the  doctrine  of  State  rights  and 
demanded  liberty  of  action  for  shipowners. 
/'  Jefferson  seemed  to  be  in  a  daze.  The  policy 
pursued  during  the  last  few  months  of  his  Presi 
dency  was  a  contradiction  of  all  his  arguments, 
theories,  and  doctrines,  and  he  was  as  eager  to 
leave  the  White  House  as  he  had  been  to  enter 
it  eight  years  before.  He  surveyed  the  wreck  of 
his  administration  with  a  sorrow  that  did  not  leave 
him  to  the  end  of  his  days.  His  disappointment 
and  humiliation  were  keen,  his  influence  in  Con 
gress  was  forfeited,  yet  his  personal  popularity  was 
not  seriously  affected.  The  great  majority  of  the 
nation  believed  in  him  and  considered  him  the 
greatest,  the  wisest,  and  the  most  virtuous  of  states 
men.  But  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  said,  "  Never 
has  there  been  an  administration  which  went  out 
of  office  and  left  the  nation  in  a  state  so  deplorable 
and  calamitous." 


VI 

THE   EXPANSIONIST   OF    1803 

IN  no  part  of  his  public  experience  has  Jeffer 
son's  skill  as  a  politician  or  his  broad  statesmanship 
been  illustrated  in  such  a  striking  manner  as  in 
connection  with  the  treaty  for  the  annexation  of 
the  Louisiana  Territory  to  the  United  States.  It 
was  the  greatest  triumph  of  his  career,  Land  it 
seems  inexplicable  that  he  did  not  include  it  in 
his  epitaph,  which  mentions  but  three  of  his 
achievements.  It  was  without  question  the  great 
est  benefit  he"1  conferred  upon  his  country,  and 
contributed  more  to  his  honor  than  any  other  in 
cident  or  public  act  with  which  he  was  connected. 
At  the  same  time  it  was  the  first  instance  in  which 
a  President  of  the  United  States  ever  used  his 
personal  and  political  influence  to  crowd  through 
Congress,  under  a  gag  law,  an  act  which  he  him 
self  declared  unconstitutional;  and  for  his  justi-- 
fication  Jefferson  believed  confidently  that  the  wis 
dom  of  his  course  would  be  recognized  and  ap 
proved  by  all  generations  —  as  ;t  has  been. 

ijrle  did  not  originate  the  project,  nor  was  he 
the  author  of  the  scheme.  ~~  So  far  back  as  the  Revo 
lution  the  necessity  of  owning  a  trading-post  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  became  apparent,  and 
until  1800,  when  the  Territory  was  retroceded  to 
France  by  Spain,  our  ministers  to  that  country 
were  vainly  endeavoring  to  secure  such  an  ar 
rangement.  As  soon  as  Jefferson  learned  that 
Spain  had  transferred  the  title,  Livingston  was  in- 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

structed  to  approach  the  French  government  with 
an  offer  to  purchase  New  Orleans  and  the  Floridas. 
He  made  slow  work  of  it,  and  Jefferson's  anx 
iety  became  so  great  that  he  sent  Monroe  to  Paris 
to  assist  in  the  negotiations.  / 

Fortunately  for  the  Unitea  States,  Napoleon  was 
injmost  embarrassing  complications.  The  French 
possessions  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  were 
a  source  of  weakness  instead  of  strength  the  mo 
ment  he  went  to  war  with  England,  and,  further 
more,  he  was  desperately  in  need7 of  money.  Hav 
ing  no  confidence  in  the  personal  honesty  of 
Talleyrand,  his  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Na 
poleon  entrusted  the  negotiations  to  M.  Marbois, 
his  Minister  of  Finance,  who  had  an  American 
wife,  had  lived  several  years  in  the  United  States, 
and  was  on  friendly  terms  with  Livingston  and 
Monroe.  The  envoys  had  been  instructed  to  pur 
chase  only  the  Island  of  New  Orleans  or  some 
other  location  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
equally  favorable,  but  Marbois  offered  them  the 
entire  French  possessions  in  America  for  one  hun 
dred  million  francs,  and,  as  they  learned  after 
wards,  it  was  just  twice  the  amount  fixed  by  Napo 
leon  himself.  After  several  days  of  negotiation 
the  contract  was  closed,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the 
United  States  should  pay  sixty  million  francs  for 
the  Territory  and*  assume  all  the  claims  of  Ameri 
can  citizens  against  France  growing  out  of  the  dep 
redations  of  her  privateers,  which  then  amounted 
to  about  twenty  millions  of  francs,  and  which,  by 
the  way,  were  not  settled  for  nearly  a  hundred 
years  afterwards. 

It  was  wise  for  Napoleon  to  sell  the  property; 
it  was  wiser  for  the  United  States  to  buy  it;  and 
while  Jefferson  took  great  pride  in  the  achieve 
ment,  he  was  exceedingly  anxious  to  avoid  a  dis- 

176 


THE   EXPANSIONIST   OF    1803 

cussion  of  the  legal  points  involved,  because  he 
believed  the  entire  proceeding  to  be  unconstitu 
tional.  Here  the  spirit  of  the  politician  dominated 
the  conscience  of  the  lawyer,  and  under  his  direc 
tion  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  by  Congress  was 
accomplished  with  marvellous  skill  and  speed.  Only 
one  day  was  allowed  for  debate  in  either  house, 
and  within  four  days  after  Congress  assembled  the 
emergency  was  passed  and  the  ratifications  ex 
changed  and  proclaimed  to  the  public.  Both  houses 
approved  the  project  by  large  majorities.  Al 
though  Hamilton,  Morris,  and  other  of  the  Feder 
alist  leaders  favored  the  annexation  of  the  Territory 
and  approved  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  the 
political  animosities  of  the  time  and  their  antago 
nism  towards  Jefferson's  administration  would  not 
permit  them  to  allow  it  to  pass  without  making 
some  pertinent  as  well  as  some  impertinent  sug- 
gestions.T^During  the  limited  hour  for  debate  they 
raised  several  interesting  points,  including,  first, 
whether  it  was  constitutional  to  acquire  territory, 
and,  second,  what  should  be  done  with  it  when 
acquired  ? 

Jefferson  groped  around  in  all  directions  seek 
ing  consolation  for  his  conscience,  and  arguments 
by  which  he  might  sustain  himself  before  the  peo 
ple  and  justify  his  unconstitutional  proceedings. 
It  was  a  solemn  subject  of  conference  in  the  Cabi 
net,  and  many  anxious  hours  were  spent  in  dis 
cussing  various  devices  to  relieve  the  dilemma. 
Jefferson  himself  proposed  most  of  them,  for  he 
had  an  ingenious  mind,  and  was  determined  to 
escape  the  charge  of  inconsistency  with  as  little 
damage  as  possible. 

In  a  letter  to  Senator  Breckenridge,  August  12, 
1803,  he  said:  "This  treaty  must  of  course  be 
laid  before  both  houses,  because  both  have  im- 

177 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

portant  functions  to  exercise  respecting  it.  They, 
I  presume,  will  see  their  duty  to  their  country  in 
ratifying  and  paying  for  it,  so  as  to  secure  a  good 
which  would  otherwise  probably  be  never  again 
in  their  power.  But  I  suppose  they  must  then 
appeal  to  the  nation  for  an  additional  article  to 
the  Constitution  approving  and  confirming  an  act 
which  the  nation  had  not  previously  authorized. 
The  Constitution  has  made  no  provision  for  our 
holding  foreign  territory,  and  still  less  for  incor 
porating  foreign  nations  into  our  own.  The  Ex 
ecutive  in  seizing  the  fugitive  occurrence  (Louisi 
ana  purchase)  which  so  much  advances  the  good 
of  their  country,  have  done  an  act  beyond  the  Con 
stitution.  But  we  shall  not  be  disavowed  by  the 
nation,  and  their  acts  of  indemnity  will  confirm 
and  not  weaken  the  Constitution,  by  more  strongly 
marking  out  its  lines." 

On  August  1 8  we  find  Jefferson  writing  to 
Breckenridge  again,  and  this  time  showing  a  modi 
fication  of  the  views  expressed  in  his  letter  of  the 
previous  week.  He  says :  "  I  wrote  you  on  the 
1 2th  instant  on  the  subject  of  Louisiana  and  the 
constitutional  provision  which  might  be  necessary 
for  it.  A  letter  received  yesterday  shows  that  noth 
ing  must  be  said  on  that  subject  which  may  give 
a  pretext  for  retraction,  but  that  we  should  do 
sub  silentio  what  shall  be  found  necessary." 

Wilson  Cary  Nicholas,  a  warm  personal  and 
political  friend  of  Jefferson,  conferred  with  him 
upon  the  constitutional  question,  and  early  in  Sep 
tember  wrote  Jefferson  a  letter  in  which  he  declared 
that  upon  an  examination  of  the  Constitution  he 
"  found  the  power  as  broad  as  it  could  well  be 
made,  except  that  new  states  can  not  be  formed 
out  of  old  ones  without  the  consent  of  the  states 
to  be  dismembered." 

178 


THE   EXPANSIONIST   OF    1803 

On  September  7,  1803,  Jefferson,  in  reply,  wrote 
to  Nicholas :  "  I  am  aware  of  the  force  of  the 
observations  you  make  on  the  power  given  by 
the  Constitution  to  Congress  to  admit  new  States 
into  the  Union  without  restraining  the  subject  to 
the  territory  then  constituting  the  United  States. 
But  when  I  consider  that  the  limits  of  the  United 
States  are  precisely  fixed  by  the  treaty  of  1783, 
that  the  Constitution  expressly  declares  itself  to 
be  made  for  the  United  States,  I  can  not  help 
believing  that  the  intention  was  to  permit  Congress 
to  admit  into  the  Union  new  States  which  should 
be  formed  out  of  the  territory  for  which  and  under 
whose  authority  alone  they  were  then  acting.  I 
do  not  believe  it  was  meant  that  they  might  re 
ceive  England,  Ireland,  Holland,  etc.,  into  it,  which 
would  be  the  case  under  your  construction.  When 
an  instrument  admits  two  constructions,  the  one 
safe,  the  other  dangerous,  the  one  precise,  the  other 
indefinite,  I  prefer  that  which  is  safe  and  precise. 
I  had  rather  ask  an  enlargement  of  power  from 
the  nation  where  it  is  found  necessary  than  to 
assume  it  by  a  construction  which  would  make 
our  powers  boundless." 

He  desired  to  repair  the  mutilation  he  had  made 
in  "  the  bulwark  of  our  liberties,"  and  proposed 
two  retroactive  amendments  authorizing  him  to 
do  what  he  had  already  done,  or,  as  he  put  it, 
"  appeal  to  the  nation  for  an  additional  article  to 
the  Constitution,  approving  and  confirming  an  act 
which  the  nation  had  not  previously  authorized. 
The  Constitution,"  he  said,  "  has  made  no  pro 
vision  for  our  holding  foreign  territory,  still  less 
for  incorporating  foreign  nations  into  our  Union," 
but  he  was  confident  that  the  people  would  justify 
it  because  "  it  so  much  advances  the  good  of  the 
country."  He  actually  prepared  such  an  amend- 

179 


HE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

ment,  reading :  "  Louisiana,  as  ceded  by  France 
to  the  United  States,  is  hereby  made  a  part  of 
the  United  States,"  but  fortunately  yielded  to  the 
advice  of  friends  who  convinced  him  of  the  ab 
surdity  of  the  proposition.  If  the  Constitution 
could  be  mended  every  time  anyone  punched  a  hole 
in  it,  they  suggested  that  such  liberties  would  be 
frequently  taken. 

In  the  midst  of  his  anxiety  came  a  despatch 
from  Paris  which  effectually  dissipated  all  of  Jef 
ferson's  conscientious  scruples.  Livingston  de 
scribed  the  tremendous  opposition  which  had  de 
veloped  in  France  to  the  cession  of  the  Territory, 
and  was  so  alarmed  lest  Napoleon  might  withdraw 
from  the  bargain  that  Jefferson  was  determined 
to  ratify  the  treaty  at  once,  Constitution  or  no 
Constitution,  and  to  do  it  before  anybody  could 
interpose  objections.  To  Madison,  then  Secretary 
of  State,  he  wrote,  "  The  less  we  say  about  the 
constitutional  difficulties  respecting  Louisiana,  the 
better,  and  what  is  necessary  for  surmounting  them 
must  be  done  Sub  Silentio." 

By  the  time  Congress  had  assembled  Jefferson's 
doubt  as  to  the  constitutional  power  of  admitting 
the  new  Territory  into  the  Union  seems  to  have 
vanished.  He  does  not  appear  to  have  believed, 
however,  that  the  Territory  had  become  incor 
porated  into  the  Union  or  would  become  so  incor 
porated  by  virtue  of  the  mere  treaty  of  cession. 
In  his  message  to  Congress,  transmitted  on  October 
17,  he  referred  to  that  body  the  subject  of  govern 
ment  of  the  Territory,  as  well  as  its  incorporation 
into  the  Union,  saying,  "  With  the  wisdom  of  Con 
gress  it  will  rest  to  take  those  ulterior  measures 
which  may  be  necessary  for  the  immediate  occupa 
tion  and  temporary  government  of  the  country; 
for  its  incorporation  into  the  Union." 

180 


THE   EXPANSIONIST  OF    1803 

Everything  went  through  as  he  would  wish  it. 
His  triumph  was  complete.  The  French  flag  was 
hauled  down  at  New  Orleans  and  the  American 
flag  was  raised  to  the  top  of  the  same  staff,  while 
a  battery  fired  two  salutes  in  honor  of  the  friendly 
nations. 

Jefferson  was  a  far-sighted  man,  and  compre 
hensive  in  his  ideas  of  the  future  wealth  and  power 
of  his  country.  On  the  future  greatness  of  the 
United  States  he  said :  "  I  do  believe  we  will  con-? 
tinue  to  grow,  to  multiply  and  prosper  until  we 
exhibit  an  association,  powerful,  wise  and  happy, 
beyond  what  has  yet  been  seen  by  men."  "  Not 
in  our  day,  but  at  no  distant  one,  we  may  shake 
a  rod  over  the  heads  of  all  (the  European  nations), 
which  may  make  the  stoutest  of  them  tremble,  but 
I  hope  our  wisdom  will  grow  with  our  power,  and 
teach  us,  that  the  less  we  use  our  power  the  greater 
will  it  be."  His  pride  in  his  country  appears  in 
a  letter  to  an  English  lady,  Mrs.  Cosway,  in  which 
he  says :  "  There  is  not  a  country  on  earth  where 
there  is  greater  tranquillity;  where  the  laws  are 
milder,  or  better  obeyed ;  where  everyone  is  more 
attentive  to  his  own  business  or  meddles  less  with 
that  of  others ;  where  strangers  are  better  received, 
more  hospitably  treated  and  with  more  sacred  re 
spect." 

No  one  measured  more  accurately  than  he  the 
importance  of  the  annexation  of  Louisiana  to  the 
infant  nation.  No  one  saw  so  far  into  the  future, 
and  he  immediately  set  about  his  preparations  for 
an  expedition  to  explore  the  great  country  he  had 
purchased.  In  a  confidential  message  to  Congress 
Jefferson  proposed  the  Lewis  and  Clarke  expedition 
to  the  western  ocean,  basing  it  upon  the  interests 
of  commerce,  and  asking  an  appropriation  of  two 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  "  for  the  purpose 

181 


THE  TRUE  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

of  extending  the  external  commerce  of  the  United 
States."  Congress  appropriated  five  thousand  dol 
lars.  Captain  Meriwether  Lewis,  who  was  se 
lected  to  command,  was  his  private  secretary  and 
the  son  of  a  neighbor  of  Jefferson's.  In  addition 
to  the  money  furnished,  Jefferson  wrote  Lewis  the 
following  authority  to  draw  for  funds :  "  In  the 
journey  you  are  about  to  undertake,  should  you 
reach  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  be  without  money, 
your  resource  can  only  be  the  credit  of  the  United 
States,  for  which  purpose  I  hereby  authorize  you 
to  draw  on  the  Secretaries  of  State,  of  the  Treas 
ury,  of  War  and  of  the  Navy  of  the  United  States, 
according  as  you  may  find  your  drafts  will  be  most 
negotiable." 

The  attack  of  Jefferson  upon  his  own  conscience 
in  connection  with  the  annexation  of  Louisiana  was 
shortly  followed  by  another  exhibition  of  incon 
sistency  that  is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  in  his 
entire  career.  Evidently  without  reflecting  upon 
its  apparent  violation  of  his  democratic  principles, 
he  prepared  a  plan  for  the  government  of  the  new 
Territory  without  the  consent  of  the  governed. 
He  proposed  to  place  it  under  a  centralized  author 
ity  as  complete  and  offensive  as  any  he  had  ever 
condemned.  He  made  no  provision  for  the  pro 
tection  of  the  lives  and  liberties  of  the  people,  he 
allowed  them  no  voice  in  the  control  of  their  own 
affairs,  not  even  the  ordinary  right  of  suffrage, 
but  endowed  the  President  with  all  the  monarchial 
authority  exercised  by  the  old  Spanish  viceroys, — 
an  odd  position  for  a  democrat  who  had  preached 
so  eloquently  and  so  often  that  all  authority  and 
power  rested  with  the  people.  But  he  justified 
himself  on  the  theory  that  he  was  seeking  the  good 
of  the  people  and  executing  their  will. 

Thomas  H.  Benton  said  of  Jefferson's  plan  for 
182 


THE   EXPANSIONIST   OF    1803 

a  government  of  Louisiana :  "  It  was  a  startling 
bill  continuing  the  existing  methods  of  the  Spanish 
government ;  putting  the  President  in  the  place  of 
the  King  of  Spain ;  putting  all  the  territorial  offi 
cers  in  the  place  of  the  king's  officers  and  placing 
the  appointments  of  all  those  officers  in  the  Presi 
dent  alone  without  reference  to  the  Senate.  Noth 
ing  could  be  more  incompatible  with  our  constitu 
tion  than  such  a  government, — a  mere  emanation 
of  Spanish  despotism  in  which  all  power  civil  and 
military,  legislative,  executive  and  judicial  was  in 
the  intendente  general  representing  the  king,  and 
which  the  people,  far  from  possessing  political 
rights,  were  punishable  arbitrarily  for  presuming 
to  meddle  with  political  subjects." 

To  those  who  criticised,  the  Republicans  replied 
with  the  same  arguments  as  were  used  in  1900, 
that  the  Constitution  was  made  for  the  States  and 
not  for  the  Territories,  and  that  Congress  could 
do  anything  it  pleased  with  the  Territories. 

A  portion  of  his  plan  was  adopted  by  Congress, 
but  it  proved  so  offensive  that  it  was  soon  repealed 
for  one  more  in  harmony  with  a  republican  form 
of  government.  President  Jefferson  made  no 
reference  to  the  constitutional  difficulties  of  the 
situation  in  any  of  his  messages  to  Congress,  but 
continued  to  refer  to  the  subject  in  his  private 
correspondence,  and  defended  his  course  with  his 
remarkable  ability.  A  President  of  narrower  views 
might  have  changed  the  entire  destiny  of  the 
American  republic,  and  it  is  fortunate  that  so 
able  and  courageous  a  man  as  Jefferson  was  in 
the  executive  chair,  willing  to  subordinate  his  per 
sonal  opinions  to  the  will  and  good  of  the  nation. 

Happily  not  all  of  Jefferson's  recommendations 
concerning  the  new  possession  were  carried  out, 
for  he  invented  a  list  of  absurd  classical  names 

183 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

from  Greek  derivation  for  the  States  to  be  carved 
out  of  the  Louisiana  Territory,  and  we  should  have 
upon  the  map  of  the  United  States,  Sylvania, 
Michigania,  Chersonesus,  Assenisipia,  Metropp- 
tamia,  Illinoia,  Saratoga,  Polypotamia,  Pelispia, 
instead  of  the  present  names  of  the  States  west 
and  northwest  of  Virginia. 

On  reviewing  Jefferson's  record  it  will  be  seen 
that  he  was  a  natural  expansionist.  In  a  letter  to 
Monroe  in  1801  he  said,  "  However  our  present 
interests  may  restrain  us  within  our  own  limits, 
it  is  impossible  not  to  look  forward  to  distant 
times,  when  our  rapid  multiplication  will  expand 
itself  beyond  those  limits,  and  cover  the  whole 
northern  if  not  the  southern  continent."  He  was 
one  of  the  earliest  advocates  of  the  annexation 
of  Florida  and  favored  the  annexation  of  Cuba. 
In  1791,  in  a  letter  to  Washington,  he  refers  to 
a  proclamation  of  Quesada,  the  Spanish  governor, 
inviting  foreign  settlers  to  Florida,  as  follows : 
"  This  is  meant  for  our  people.  I  wish  a  hundred 
thousand  of  our  inhabitants  would  accept  the  invi 
tation.  It  will  be  the  means  of  delivering  to  us 
secretly  what  may  otherwise  cost  us  a  war.  In 
the  meantime,"  he  says,  with  the  cunning  of  a 
Jesuit,  "  we  may  complain  of  this  seduction  of 
our  inhabitants  just  enough  to  make  them  believe 
we  think  it  very  wise  policy  for  them  and  confirm 
them  in  it." 

The  acquisition  of  Louisiana  made  him  eager 
to  secure  Florida,  and  in  his  "  Anas"  he  states  that 
in  October,  1803,  it  was  agreed  at  a  Cabinet  meet 
ing  that  Monroe,  then  minister  at  Paris,  should 
be  instructed  to  purchase  that  territory  of  Spain. 
If  that  was  impossible,  he  proposed  to  seize  it 
by  force  on  the  pretext  that  England  would  do 
so  if  the  United  States  did  not.  From  his  re- 

184 


THE   EXPANSIONIST   OF    1803 

tirement  at  Monticello  he  urged  Congress  to  au 
thorize  the  President  to  take  possession  of  Florida 
in  January,  1811,  "with  a  declaration,  first,  that 
it  is  a  reprisal  for  indemnities  Spain  has  acknowl 
edged  to  be  due  us;  second,  to  keep  it  from  fall 
ing  into  hands  in  which  it  would  essentially  en 
danger  our  safety;  third,  that  in  our  hands  it 
will  still  be  held  as  a  subject  of  negotiation."  He 
writes  his  son-in-law,  J.  W.  Eppes,  who  was  a 
member  of  Congress  from  Virginia,  "  The  leading 
republican  members  should  come  to  an  understand 
ing,  close  the  doors,  and  determine  not  to  separate 
until  the  vote  is  carried,  and  all  the  secrecy  we 
can  enjoin  should  be  aimed  at  until  the  measure 
is  executed." 

Jefferson  being,  as  mentioned,  an  earnest  ad 
vocate  of  the  annexation  of  Cuba,  wrote  to  Presi 
dent  Monroe  in  1823 :  "  I  candidly  confess  that 
I  have  looked  on  Cuba  as  the  most  interesting 
addition  which  could  ever  be  made  to  our  system 
of  States.  The  control  which  with  Florida  point 
this  island  would  give  us  over  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  the  countries  and  isthmus  bordering  on  it, 
as  well  as  those  whose  waters  flow  into  it,  would 
fill  up  the  measure  of  our  political  wellbeing." 

Jefferson  would,  however,  have  objected  to  the 
annexation  of  the  Philippines  and  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  for  he  said :  "  Cuba  can  be  defended  by 
us  without  a  navy,  and  this  developes  the  principle 
which  ought  to  limit  our  views.  Nothing  should 
ever  be  accepted  which  would  require  a  navy  to 
.  defend  it." 


185 


VII 

"  JEFFERSONIAN    SIMPLICITY" 

THE  inauguration  of  Jefferson  as  President  of 
the  United  States  was  attended  with  as  much  pomp 
and  ceremony  as  the  physical  conditions  would 
permit.  Washington  was  then  a  village,  with  a 
few  thousand  inhabitants  scattered  over  a  large 
area,  which  provoked  satirists  to  call  it  "  A  City 
of  Magnificent  Distances."  The  story  of  his  going 
to  the  Capitol  on  horseback  unattended,  and  hitch 
ing  his  horse  to  the  "  palisades"  while  he  was 
taking  the  oath  of  office  as  President,  is  a  pleasant 
fiction,  first  published  by  an  English  tourist  named 
John  Davis,  who  wrote  a  book  concerning  his 
experiences  and  observations  in  this  country.  Mr. 
Davis  spent  a  winter  in  Washington,  and,  like  all 
foreigners,  was  amazed  at  the  simplicity  of  our 
government.  Unfortunately  for  the  accuracy  of 
his  narrative,  at  his  boarding-house  he  fell  into 
the  society  of  several  wags,  who  imposed  upon  his 
credulity  by  relating  absurd  anecdotes  of  the  Presi 
dent  and  others  in  authority  which  he  conscien 
tiously  noted  down  and  afterwards  published  as 
facts.  At  the  inauguration  of  his  successor  Jeffer 
son  rode  from  the  White  House  to  the  Capitol 
on  horseback  with  an  escort  of  cavalry.  At  the 
close  of  the  ceremonies,  in  order  that  Madison 
might  have  all  the  glory  to  himself,  he  slipped 
away  quietly,  remounted  his  horse,  and  rode  to  a 
boarding-house  in  Georgetown,  accompanied  only 
by  his  grandson,  Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph,  who 
is  the  authority  for  the  story. 

186 


<  <  JEFFERSONIAN   SIMPLICITY' f 

As  President,  Jefferson  had  a  fine  coach  drawn 
by  four  magnificent  horses,  for  which  he  paid 
sixteen  hundred  dollars,  a  very  large  sum  in  those 
days,  and  his  coachman  and  footman  were  clad 
in  livery  similar  to  that  used  by  the  nobility  in 
Paris  and  London,  but  the  vehicle  was  seldom 
used  because  the  streets  of  Washington  were  un- 
paved  and  muddy  and  there  was  little  occasion 
for  it.  He  was  proud  of  his  horses,  and,  being 
a  fearless  rider,  seldom  bestrode  any  but  animals 
of  high  mettle  and  of  his  own  breeding.  His 
favorite  was  a  thoroughbred  gelding  called  "  Wild 
Air."  He  preferred  his  saddle  to  a  carriage  be 
cause  it  gave  him  exercise.  While  President  he 
rode  daily  for  two  hours  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Washington  and  frequently  dropped  in  at  the 
Capitol  to  confer  with  his  friends  in  Congress.  In 
those  days  it  was  common  for  members  of  Con 
gress  living  in  Georgetown  to  go  to  the  Capitol 
on  horseback,  and  a  shed  was  erected  for  the 
accommodation  of  their  animals.  Jefferson  usu 
ally  took  advantage  of  this  convenience  and  tied 
his  horse  to  a  peg  before  he  entered  the  building. 
This  might  be  the  foundation  for  the  Davis  anec 
dote.  On  his  journeys  to  Monticello  he  usually 
rode  horseback,  but  had  a  sulky,  or  what  he  called 
a  "  horse-chair,"  of  his  own  contrivance,  a  two- 
wheeled  vehicle  with  a  comfortable  seat  that  was 
well  adapted  to  the  rude  roads.  Sometimes  he 
went  down  the  Potomac  and  up  the  James  River 
to  Richmond,  where  his  horses  or  carriage  met 
him.  On  one  or  two  occasions  he  made  the  jour 
ney  by  way  of  Fredericksburg  in  a  similar  manner. 

At  the  time  of  his  inauguration  Jefferson  was 
living  at  Conrad's  boarding-house,  which  still 
stands  on  New  Jersey  Avenue  not  far  from  the 
Capitol,  in  the  same  rooms  he  had  occupied  during 

187 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

his  term  as  Vice-President,  and  from  there  he 
was  escorted  to  the  Capitol  by  a  battalion  of  sol 
diers  on  foot,  while  a  salute  of  honor  was  fired 
by  a  battery  from  Alexandria.  He  walked  between 
Samuel  Dexter,  of  Massachusetts,  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  and  Benjamin  Stoddard,  of  Mary 
land,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  the  only  members 
of  President  Adams's  Cabinet  who  had  the  de 
cency  to  remain  in  Washington.  The  retiring 
President,  in  childish  pique,  and  to  the  humiliation 
of  his  friends,  before  daylight  on  inauguration  day 
fled  like  a  fugitive  by  carriage  to  Baltimore  to 
avoid  the  disagreeable  duty  of  assisting  at  the  in 
stallation  of  the  man  who  had  defeated  him; 
and  after  his  encounter  with  Levi  Lincoln  over 
the  midnight  judges,  John  Marshall  had  laid  down 
the  portfolio  of  Secretary  of  State,  and  had  taken 
the  oath  of  office  as  Chief- Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 

The  north  wing  of  the  Capitol  was  nearly  com 
pleted  at  this  time,  and  Jefferson,  surrounded  by 
his  political  friends,  was  received  upon  the  por 
tico  by  Colonel  Burr,  who  had  arrived  at  Wash 
ington  a  day  or  two  previous  and  had  been  sworn 
in  as  Vice-President  that  morning.  Jefferson  con 
sidered  the  appointment  of  John  Marshall  to  be 
Chief- Justice  so  near  the  expiration  of  the  term 
of  President  Adams  as  not  only  an  impropriety 
but  a  personal  affront  to  himself.  It  was  there 
fore  a  dramatic  situation  when  Marshall  appeared 
upon  the  steps  of  the  Capitol  wearing  for  the  first 
time  the  robes  of  the  Chief- Justice  to  perform  his 
first  official  duty,  and  require  Thomas  Jefferson 
to  make  oath  that  to  the  best  of  his  ability  he 
would  "  preserve,  protect  and  defend  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States" — a  difference  as  to 
the  mea'ning  of  certain  clauses  in  the  Constitution 

188 


"JEFFERSONIAN   SIMPLICITY" 

being  the  chief  cause  of  the  antagonism  between 
the  new  President  and  the  new  Chief- Justice  and 
upon  which  thereafter  they  were  never  able  to 
agree.  No  one  in  all  the  list  of  public  men  was 
so  obnoxious  to  Jefferson,  but  it  was  natural  for 
them  both,  as  gentlemen  of  dignity,  to  accept  the 
situation. 

After  taking  the  oath  of  office  in  the  presence 
of  the  public  Jefferson  was  escorted  to  the  desk 
of  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate  in  the  room 
now  occupied  by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  was 
seated  between  Colonel  Burr  and  Judge  Marshall. 
After  a  short  pause,  at  a  signal  from  the  sergeant- 
at-arms,  he  arose  and  delivered  his  first  inaugural 
address,  in  what  the  spectators  called  "  an  inaudible 
voice."  /  As '  already  mentioned,  he  had  a  consti-  j 
tutional  defect  in  his  throat  which  precluded  him 
from  public  speaking.  At  the  close  of  the  cere 
mony  he  was  escorted  back  to  Conrad's  boarding- 
house,  wrhere  he  received  the  congratulations  of 
the  foreign  ministers,  the  members  of  Congress, 
other  public  officials,  and  citizens  of  Washington 
generally.  He  did  not  occupy  the  White  House 
until  May,  probably  because  of  its  lack  of  proper 
furnishings  and  his  absence  from  the  city.y' 

Although  Senator  Maclay,  of  Pennsylvania,  de 
scribed  his  manner  as  of  "  a  lofty  gravity,"  other 
witnesses,  writing  at  the  time,  tell  us  that  the 
chief  figure  at  the  inauguration  of  the  third  Presi 
dent  was  "  decidedly  unkempt  in  hair  and  toilet," 
and  that  his  clothes  were  "  shabby."  He  made 
no  preparation  for  the  ceremony  so  far  as  his  ap 
pearance  was  concerned.  His  indifference  was  os 
tentatious  and  evidently  intended  to  cause  com 
ment.  Augustus  Foster,  secretary  of  the  British 
legation,  describes  him  as  "  a  tall  man  with  a  very 
red,  freckled  face  and  gray  neglected  hair;  his 

189 


THE   TRUE  THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

manners  good-natured,  frank  and  rather  comely, 
although  he  had  somewhat  of  a  cynical  expression 
of  countenance.  He  wore  a  blue  coat,  a  thick 
gray  colored  waistcoat,  with  a  red  underwaistcoat 
lapped  over  it,  green  velveteen  breeches  with  pearl 
buttons,  yarn  stockings  and  slippers  down  at  the 
heel,  his  appearance  being  much  like  that  of  a 
tall  large  boned  farmer."  Jefferson's  "  democratic 
simplicity"  was  affectation;  it  was  part  of  his 
political  policy  to  dress  badly,  although  he  did  not 
adopt  it  until  he  was  elected  President. 

While  minister  to  France  he  lived  in  great  ele 
gance.  His  entertainments  were  bountiful  and 
frequent.  He  expended  his  entire  salary  and  drew 
largely  upon  his  private  resources  to  maintain  an 
appearance  befitting  his  position.  No  representa 
tive  of  the  United  States  at  the  French  capital 
has  ever  done  greater  credit  to  himself  and  to  his 
country  by  his  intelligence,  his  deportment,  and 
his  hospitality.  He  was  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  elegant  of  gentlemen, — a  striking  contrast 
with  the  Jefferson  who  afterwards  occupied  the 
White  House.  On  occasion  he  was  even  a  courtier 
and  knew  how  to  pay  a  compliment  as  well  as  any 
Frenchman,  as  his  correspondence  shows. 

While  a  member  of  Congress  and  Secretary  of 
State  in  Philadelphia  he  kept  quite  an  elegant  es 
tablishment  in  the  suburbs,  near  Gray's  Ferry, 
five  horses  and  five  men-servants  in  livery,  in 
cluding  a  French  butler  named  Petit,  brought  from 
Paris.  He  afterwards  imported  a  French  cook, 
who  had  charge  of  the  kitchen  at  the  White  House 
while  he  was  President.  His  dinners  at  Philadel 
phia  were  notable  as  social  events,  and  there  was 
nothing  in  his  habits  or  his  demeanor  to  correspond 
with  the  negligence  he  afterwards  assumed.  His 
scientific  tastes  led  him  into  the  society  of  scholars 

190 


' '  JEFFERSONI AN   SIMPLICITY' ' 

rather  than  into  the  gay  world  that  surrounded 
the  republican  court,  but  he  was  -extremely  careful 
that  his  daughters  should  learn  dancing,  music, 
and  other  social  accomplishments  from  the  most 
fashionable  preceptors,  and  showed  great  solicitude 
about  their  manners  and  deportment.  His  most 
congenial  companions  in  Philadelphia  were  the 
members  of  the  Philosophical  Society,  of  which 
he  afterwards  became  President.  In  1793,  while 
he  was  Secretary  of  State,  he  moved  to  German- 
town  to  escape  an  epidemic  of  yellow  fever,  and 
complained  about  his  limited  quarters  and  the  in 
conveniences  to  which  he  was  subjected.  It  was 
this  plague  that  he  called  a  blessing,  because  he 
thought  it  would  discourage  people  from  living  in 
the  cities. 

Jefferson  was  very  severe  in  his  criticisms  of 
the  formalities  and  elegance  of  Washington  and 
Adams  while  they  were  in  the  Presidency,  and 
once  sarcastically  remarked  that  he  desired  to 
escape  "  the  glare  of  royalty  and  nobility/'  Gen 
eral  Washington  and  John  Adams  had  exalted 
ideas  of  their  office  and  believed  that  a  certain 
amount  of  form  and  ceremony  was  necessary  to 
its  dignity.  Differing  from  their  opinion,  Jeffer 
son  assumed  a  neglect  of  dress  and  an  indifference 
to  the  conventional  rules  of  society  which  he  evi 
dently  considered  necessary  to  impress  the  "  plain 
people."  He  abandoned  the  courtly  deportment 
for  which  he  had  previously  been  noted,  and 
adopted  manners  that  were  offensive  to  people 
of  refined  taste.  He  had  written  essays  on  eti 
quette,  and  had  admonished  his  children  upon 
cultivating  "  the  art  of  politeness."  He  had  in 
troduced  into  America  French  cooks,  finger-bowls, 
and  other  fashions  which  had  met  with  his  ap 
proval  in  Paris,  and  had  observed  much  formality 

191 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

of  manner.  He  was  served  by  butlers  and  foot 
men  in  livery,  and  was  fastidious  about  his  table 
china  and  plate. 

He  was  continually  cautioning  his  children  and 
grandchildren  concerning  neatness  in  dress.  To 
his  daughter  Martha  he  wrote :  "  I  omitted  in  that 
letter  to  advise  you  on  the  subject  of  dress,  which 
I  know  you  are  a  little  apt  to  neglect.  I  do  not 
wish  you  to  be  gaily  clothed  at  this  time  of  life, 
but  that  your  wear  should  be  fine  of  its  kind.  But 
above  all  things  and  at  all  times  let  your  clothes 
be  neat,  whole  and  properly  put  on.  But  be  you 
from  the  moment  you  rise  till  you  go  to  bed,  as 
cleanly  and  properly  dressed  as  at  the  hours  of 
dinner  or  tea.  A  lady  who  has  been  seen  a  sloven 
or  slut  in  the  morning  will  never  efface  the  im 
pression  she  has  made,  with  all  the  dress  and 
pageantry  she  may  afterwards  involve  herself  in. 
I  hope,  therefore,  the  moment  you  rise  from  bed, 
your  first  work  will  be  to  dress  yourself  in  such 
style,  as  that  you  may  be  seen  by  any  gentleman 
without  his  being  able  to  discover  a  pin  amiss, 
or  any  other  circumstance  of  neatness  wanting." 

Speaking  of  the  good  qualities  of  the  French 
people  he  once  said,  "  With  respect  to  what  are 
termed  polite  manners,  without  sacrificing  too  much 
the  sincerity  of  language,  I  would  wish  my  coun 
trymen  to  adopt  just  so  much  of  European  polite 
ness  as  to  be  ready  to  make  all  those  little  sacri 
fices  of  self,  which  really  render  European  manners 
amiable,  and  relieve  society  from  the  disagreeable 
scenes  to  which  rudeness  often  subjects  it."  At 
another  time  he  wrote :  "  The  article  of  dress  is 
perhaps  that  in  which  economy  is  the  least  to  be 
recommended.  Yet,  generally,  we  become  slovenly 
in  proportion  as  personal  decay  requires  the  con 
trary."  Speaking  of  his  appearance  at  Monticello 

192 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

(  Painted  by  Gilbert  Stuart) 


' '  JEFFERSONI AN  SIMPLICITY' ' 

his  grandson  says :  "  His  manners  were  of  that 
polished  school  of  the  Colonial  Government  so  re 
markable  in  its  day — under  no  circumstances  vio 
lating  any  of  those  minor  conventional  observances 
which  constitute  the  well  bred  gentleman,  courte 
ous  and  considerate  to  all  persons.  On  riding  out 
with  him  when  a  lad,  we  met  a  negro  who  bowed 
to  us;  he  returned  his  bow;  I  did  not.  Turning 
to  me  he  asked,  *  Do  you  permit  a  negro  to  be 
more  of  a  gentleman  than  yourself  ?' ' 

As  to  his  own  appearance,  we  have,  in  addition 
to  the  several  portraits  on  canvas,  painted  by  Gil 
bert  Stuart,  Charles  Willson  Peale,  Sully,  Otis, 
des  Noyers,  and  other  conscientious  artists,  sev 
eral  graphic  pen-pictures.  Senator  Plummer,  of 
Massachusetts,  says :  "  He  was  a  man  of  scholarly 
tastes,  wide  information  and  an  excellent  conver 
sationalist  of  attractive  manners,  but  was  dressed 
in  a  state  of  negligence.  He  was  dressed  or 
rather  undressed,  in  an  old  brown  coat,  red  waist 
coat,  old  courderoy  small  clothes,  much  soiled, 
woolen  hose  and  slippers  without  heels.  I  thought 
him  a  servant,  when  General  Varnum  surprised 
me  by  announcing  that  it  was  the  President." 

Senator  Maclay,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  was  an 
interesting  old  gossip,  said :  "  He  has  rather  the 
air  of  stiffness  in  his  manner.  His  clothes  seem 
too  small  for  him.  He  sits  in  a  lounging  manner 
on  one  hip  commonly,  and  with  one  of  his  shoul 
ders  elevated  much  above  the  other.  His  face 
has  a  sunny  aspect.  His  whole  figure  has  a  loose, 
shackling  air.  He  has  a  rambling  vacant  look, 
and  nothing  of  that  firm  collected  deportment 
which  I  expected  would  dignify  the  presence  of 
a  secretary  or  a  minister.  He  spoke  almost  with 
out  ceasing;  but  even  his  discourse  partook  of 
his  personal  demeanor.  It  was  loose  and  rambling; 
13  193 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

and  yet  he  scattered  information  wherever  he 
went,  and  some  even  brilliant  sentiments  sparkled 
from  him." 

Jefferson's  grandson  has  left  us  this  sketch: 
"  Jefferson  had  red  hair  and  his  eyes  were  hazel. 
His  teeth  were  perfect  and,  at  his  death  in  his 
eighty  fourth  year,  not  one  of  them  was  defective. 
His  skin  was  exceedingly  sensitive,  the  heat  of 
the  sun  causing  it  to  blister,  and  he  was  frequently 
troubled  by  suffusions  of  blood,  the  bursting  of 
veins  in  his  face  and  neck  during  unusual  mus 
cular  exertion.  But  this  never  caused  him  any  in 
convenience. 

"  Mr.  Jefferson's  stature  was  commanding — six 
feet  two  and  a  half  inches  in  height,  well  formed, 
indicating  strength,  activity,  and  robust  health; 
his  carriage  erect;  step  firm  and  elastic,  which  he 
preserved  to  his  death;  his  temper,  naturally 
strong,  under  perfect  control ;  his  courage  cool  and 
impassive.  No  one  ever  knew  him  exhibit  trepi 
dation.  His  moral  courage  of  the  highest  order — 
his  will  firm  and  inflexible — it  was  remarked  of 
him  that  he  never  abandoned  a  plan,  a  principle 
or  a  friend.  He  retained  to  the  last  his  fondness 
for  riding  on  horseback;  he  rode  within  three 
weeks  of  his  death,  when,  from  disease,  debility 
and  age,  he  mounted  with  difficulty.  He  rode  with 
confidence,  and  never  permitted  a  servant  to  ac 
company  him;  he  was  fond  of  solitary  rides  and 
musing,  and  said  that  the  presence  of  a  servant 
annoyed  him. 

"  His  habits  were  regular  and  systematic.  He 
was  a  miser  of  his  time,  rose  always  at  dawn, 
wrote  and  read  until  breakfast,  breakfasted  early, 
and  dined  from  three  to  four,  retired  at  nine,  and 
to  bed  from  ten  to  eleven.  He  said,  in  his  last 
illness,  that  the  sun  had  not  caught  him  in  bed 

194 


»  t.Q~  t 


lUHsni  fri*sr*jijt 
^4  AO^>W  orbts* 


'™ 
-i 

T.    fl^  £UT\xf  HuJMc.    C4B4«>/nrv0vix/ 
7  *** 

^(*nr1  (  ?a^)  dfKShr  htrj^tjAf.i^tJt 

t  rf\i.f~i3mr\4-ta*^  <//&  femO 


« -n  J  c  »  -t/Y  f  f^t-  r  e>fa.  *<<rnj  tj 'i  «xW? 
t  l< p  <>-)i.<-Jf  t   ^*(ustji    fhs,fi-ts>jiTtLj  <v»n- 


O.    /•  <Mt+f9r*-ts~t*  rntrtfr*s>vCitf+ 

t^ut,  Arr&u/hn  J)  tvY^.if^Lt/r^ui, 


tfLCtyxn/1  K><X<z«X<*/ti^C  "&  /7uc  CftWi4^  t-"»»  t^r  &.*</. 


' 


ihi, 


JEFFERSON'S  CODE  OF  ETIQUETTE  (autograph) 

(Original  in  Department  of  State,  Washington) 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


: 


« <  JEFFERSONIAN   SIMPLICITY' ' 

for  fifty  years.  He  always  made  his  own  fire. 
He  drank  water  but  once  a  day,  a  single  glass, 
when  he  returned  from  his  ride.  He  ate  heartily, 
and  much  vegetable  food,  preferring  French  cook 
ing." 

It  will  be  conceded  that  it  was  not  from  any  lack 
of  knowledge  or  appreciation  of  the  proprieties  that 
President  Jefferson  was  led  to  adopt  the  ostenta 
tious  "  simplicity"  which  was  one  of  the  most 
notable  features  of  his  first  term,  and  in  the  ab 
sence  of  a  definite  explanation  it  must  be  assumed 
that  he  had  an  honest  purpose.  It  is  evident  that 
he  was  acting  a  part;  that  it  was  his  desire  and 
intention  to  counteract  the  tendencies  towards  form 
and  ceremony  that  characterised  the  administra 
tions  of  Washington  and  Adams  by  furnishing 
as  strong  a  contrast  as  possible.  There  is  confir 
mation  of -this  theory  in  the  fact  that  his  "sim 
plicity"  programme  was  not  permanent;  that  it 
was  abandoned  after  a  period,  when  he  was  satis 
fied  that  no  further  danger  was  to  be  feared  from 
the  imitation  of  what  he  called  "the  monarchical 
institutions"  of  his  predecessors.  Among  the  "  citi 
zen"  leaders  of  the  French  Revolution  he  had  seen 
something  of  the  system  he  introduced,  ar  1  perhaps 
was  convinced  that  it  was  a  necessary  part  of  a 
republican  form  of  government.  He  was  deter 
mined  not  to  be  a  personage,  but  "  Citizen  Jeffer 
son"  and  nothing  else. 

The  confusion  which  followed  the  adoption  of 
his  democratic  plan,  however,  soon  taught  him  the 
necessity  of  sufficient  rules  and  regulations  to  pre 
vent  misunderstandings,  hence  he  prepared  a  code 
of  etiquette.  This  was  not  the  first  time  he  had 
undertaken  such  a  task.  "Soon  after  the  govern 
ment  was  organized  General  Washington  called 
upon  Jefferson,  with  other  members  of  the  Cabinet, 


THE  TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

to  submit  his  ideas  on  this  subject,  and  he  drafted 
an  interesting  memorandum,  the  original  of  which 
is  now  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  Department 
of  State.  But  it  was  too  broad  and  liberal  for  a 
democratic  President,  hence,  after  a  consultation 
of  his  Cabinet,  the  following  code  was  adopted  to 
govern  Washington  society: 

"i.  Residents  to  pay  the  first  visit  to  strangers; 
and  among  strangers,  whether  native  or  foreign, 
first  comers  always  first  upon  later  comers.  To 
this  rule  there  was  allowed  one  exception :  '  For 
eign  ministers,  from  the  necessity  of  making  them 
selves  known,  pay  the  first  visit  to  the  Secretary 
of  State,  which  is  returned/ 

"  When  brought  together  in  society,  all  are  per 
fectly  equal,  whether  foreign  or  domestic,  titled 
or  untitled,  in  or  out  of  office." 

The  President  afterwards  amplified  these  rules 
thus: 

"  The  families  of  foreign  ministers,  arriving  at 
the  seat  of  government,  receive  the  first  visit  from 
those  of  the  national  ministers,  as  from  all  other 
residents.  Members  of  the  legislature  and  of  the 
judiciary,  independent  of  their  offices,  have  a  right 
as  strangers  to  receive  the  first  visit.  No  title  being 
admitted  here,  those  of  foreigners  give  no  prece 
dence.  Difference  of  grade  among  the  diplomatic 
members  gives  no  precedence. 

"At  public  ceremonies  the  government  invites 
the  presence  of  foreign  ministers  and  their  fami 
lies,  a  convenient  seat  or  station  will  be  provided 
for  them,  with  any  other  strangers  invited,  and  the 
families  of  the  national  ministers,  each  taking  place 
as  they  arrive,  and  without  any  precedence. 

"To  maintain  the  principle  of  equality,  or  of 
pele-mele,  and  prevent  the  growth  of  precedence 
out  of  courtesy,  the  members  of  the  executive  will 

196 


<  <  JEFFERSONIAN   SIMPLICITY' ' 

practice  at  their  own  houses,  and  recommend  an 
adherence  to  the  ancient  usages  of  the  country  of 
gentlemen  in  mass  giving  precedence  to  the  ladies 
in  mass,  in  passing  from  one  apartment  where  they 
are  assembled  into  another." 

Jefferson's  critics  have  always  used  his  treat 
ment  of  the  British  minister  and  other  members 
of  the  diplomatic  corps  in  Washington  as  evidence 
to  sustain  the  charge  that  he  was  a  demagogue 
who  catered  to  the  prejudices  of  the  ignorant  and 
evil  minded ;  and  notwithstanding  the  explanations 
that  have  been  offered,  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
he  was  guilty  of  inexcusable  'rudeness  towards 
the  representative  of  Great  Britain.  It  was  not 
due  to  ignorance  of  social  etiquette  and  the  cus 
toms  of  polite  society,  but  was  perhaps  in  a  meas 
ure  inspired  by  animosity  towards  England  and 
particularly  by  a  desire  to  humiliate  the  repre 
sentative  of  the  King  of  England  in  retaliation 
for  the  insolence  which  that  monarch  had  shown 
towards  him  when  with  Adams  he  visited  the 
Court  of  St.  James  on  his  way  home  from  France. 
Jefferson's  hatred  of  England  was  due  also  to 
the  belief  that  the  raid  of  General  Arnold  in  Vir 
ginia  during  the  Revolution  caused  the  death  of 
his  wife.  She  was  in  feeble  health  when  compelled 
to  flee  from  Richmond  and  shortly  after  died  in 
childbirth.  He  cherished  a  deep  resentment  be 
cause  all  of  his  plantations  except  Monticello  were 
plundered  by  Tarleton's  troopers;  his  growing 
crops  were  wantonly  destroyed ;  his  live-stock  and 
horses  were  confiscated  and  the  throats  of  colts  too 
young  for  use  were  cruelly  cut.  Thirty  of  his  slaves 
were  captured  and  carried  away,  not  to  freedom, 
but  to  die  of  small-pox  and  fever  in  the  British 
camp.  He  wrote  Monroe,  "  we  have  more  reason 
to  hate  her  than  any  nation  on  earth."  He  wrote 

197 


THE  TRUE   THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

William  Carmichael,  "  I  considered  the  English  as 
our  natural  enemy,  and  as  the  only  nation  on  earth 
that  wish  us  ill  from  the  bottom  of  their  souls,  and 
I  am  satisfied  that  were  our  continent  to  be  swal 
lowed  up  by  the  ocean,  Great  Britain  would  be 
in  a  bonfire  from  one  end  to  the  other."  To  Lafay 
ette  he  wrote,  "  England's  selfish  principles  render 
her  incapable  of  honorable  patronage  or  disinter 
ested  cooperation."  To  another  he  said,  "  Great 
Britain's  governing  principles  are  conquest,  colo 
nization,  commerce,  monopoly."  After  his  retire 
ment  from  public  life  he  saw  things  differently, 
and  to  Thomas  Law  he  wrote,  "  No  man  is  more 
sensible  than  myself  of  the  just  value  of  the  friend 
ship  of  Great  Britain."  To  John  Randolph,  "I 
am  sincerely  one  of  those  who  wish  for  a  reunion 
with  the  parent  country  and  would  rather  be  in 
dependence  on  Great  Britain  than  on  any  nation 
on  earth,  or  than  on  no  nation;"  and  to  James 
Monroe,  "  No  two  countries  on  earth  have  so  many 
points  of  common  interest  and  friendship,  and  the 
rulers  must  be  great  bunglers  if  indeed,  with  such 
disposition  they  break  them  asunder." 

If  the  British  minister  had  been  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  his  treatment  would  have  been  in 
excusable  from  an  official  of  the  government  how 
ever  humble,  but  as  the  guest  of  the  nation,  and 
the  representative  of  a  friendly  power,  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  should  have  been  the 
last  to  deliberately  insult  him.  Jefferson's  respect 
for  the  dignity  of  his  office,  if  not  his  self-respect, 
should  have  prevented  such  a  blunder,  for  numer 
ous  incidents  in  his  career  show  him  to  have  been 
a  man  of  fine  fibre  and  a  keen  sense  of  personal 
dignity  and  politeness.  His  grandson  says  that 
while  President  he  was  once  returning  on  horse 
back  from  Charlottesville  to  Monticello  with  a 

198 


"  JEFFERSONIAN   SIMPLICITY" 

party  of  gentlemen  he  had  invited  to  dinner,  when 
on  reaching  a  stream  where  there  was  no  bridge, 
a  stranger  asked  to  be  taken  up  on  his  horse  be 
hind  him.  After  Jefferson  had  put  the  stranger 
down  on  dry  land  and  ridden  on,  one  of  the  guests 
inquired  why  he  had  not  asked  one  of  the  others 
to  carry  him  over.  He  replied : 

"  From  their  looks  I  did  not  like  to  ask  them ; 
but  the  old  gentleman  looked  as  if  he  would  do 
it,  so  I  asked  him." 

He  was  much  surprised  to  hear  that  he  had 
ridden  behind  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

According  to  one  of  the  hackneyed  anecdotes 
of  his  Presidency,  "  he  was  riding  along  a  high 
way  leading  to  Washington  one  day,  when  he  over 
took  a  man  walking  towards  the  city.  As  was  his 
habit,  Jefferson  drew  up  his  horse  and  touched 
his  hat  to  the  pedestrian.  The  man  returned  his 
salutation,  and  began  a  conversation,  not  knowing 
who  he  was.  He  at  once  entered  upon  the  subject 
of  politics, — as  was  the  habit  of  the  day, — and 
began  to  abuse  the  President.  Jefferson's  first  im 
pulse  was  to  ride  on,  but,  amused  at  his  own  situ 
ation,  asked  the  man  if  he  knew  the  President 
personally.  '  No/  was  the  reply,  '  nor  do  I  wish 
to.' 

"'But  do  you  think  it  fair/  suggested  Jeffer 
son,  '  to  repeat  such  stories  about  a  man  whom  you 
dare  not  face?' 

" '  I  will  never  shrink  from  meeting  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  should  he  ever  come  my  way/  replied  the 
stranger,  who  proved  to  be  a  country  merchant  of 
high  standing  from  Kentucky. 

"  '  Will  you  go  to  his  house  to-morrow  at  ten 
o'clock  and  be  introduced  to  him,  if  I  promise  to 
meet  you  there  at  that  hour?'  asked  Jefferson 
eagerly. 

199 


THE  TRUE   THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

"'Yes,  I  will/  said  the  man  after  a  moment's 
thought. 

"  With  a  half-suppressed  smile,  and  excusing 
himself  from  further  conversation,  the  President 
touched  his  hat  and  rode  on.  Hardly  had  he  dis 
appeared  from  sight  before  a  suspicion  of  the  truth, 
which  he  soon  verified,  flashed  through  the 
stranger's  mind.  However,  at  the  appointed  hour 
the  next  day  '  Mr.  Jefferson's  yesterday's  com 
panion/  was  announced,  and  entered  the  Presi 
dent's  office.  His  situation  was  embarrassing,  but 
with  a  gentlemanly  bearing,  though  with  some 
confusion,  he  began,  '  I  have  called  to  apologize 
for  having  said  to  a  stranger ' 

' '  Hard  things  of  an  imaginary  being  who  is 
no  relation  of  mine/  interrupted  Mr.  Jefferson 
as  he  gave  him  his  hand,  while  his  countenance 
was  radiant  with  a  smile  of  mingled  good-nature 
and  amusement. 

"  The  Kentuckian  once  more  "began  his  apologies, 
which  Jefferson  good  naturedly  laughed  off,  and, 
changing  the  subject,  soon  captivated  his  guest 
by  one  of  his  most  delightful  strains  of  conver 
sation." 

Notwithstanding  these  beautiful  examples  of 
courtesy  and  good-nature,  Jefferson  deliberately 
affronted  Minister  Merry  when  he  came  to  the 
White  House  accompanied  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  present  his  credentials.  In  the  Old  World 
such  events  are  attended  by  a  great  deal  of  cere 
mony.  In  our  country  they  have  always  been  con 
ducted  in  a  simple  but  dignified  manner.  Minister 
Merry  told  the  story  in  an  official  report  to  his 
government  as  follows : 

"  I  called  on  Mr.  Madison,  who  accompanied 
me  officially  to  introduce  me  to  the  President.  We 
went  together  to  the  mansion  house,  I  being  in 

200 


<  <  JEFFERSONI AN   SIMPLICITY' ' 

full  official  costume,  as  the  etiquette  of  my  place 
required  on  such  a  formal  introduction  of  a  min 
ister  of  Great  Britain  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  On  arriving  at  the  hall  of  audience 
we  found  it  empty,  at  which  Mr.  Madison  seemed 
surprised,  and  proceeded  to  an  entry  leading  to 
the  President's  study.  I  followed  him,  supposing 
that  the  introduction  was  to  take  place  in  an  ad 
joining  room.  At  this  moment  Mr.  Jefferson 
entered  the  entry  at  the  other  end,  and  all  three  of 
us  were  packed  in  this  narrow  space,  from  which 
to  make  room,  I  was  obliged  to  back  out.  In 
this  awkward  position  my  introduction  to  the 
president  was  made  by  Mr.  Madison. 

"Mr.  Jefferson's  appearance  soon  explained  to 
me  that  the  general  circumstances  of  my  reception 
had  not  been  accidental  but  studied.  I,  in  my 
official  costume,  found  myself,  at  the  hour  of  re 
ception  he  had  himself  appointed,  introduced  to 
a  man  as  the  President  of  the  United  States,  not 
merely  in  an  undress,  but  actually  standing  in 
slippers  down  at  the  heels  and  both  pantaloons, 
coat  and  underclothes  indicative  of  utter  slovenli 
ness  and  indifference  to  appearances,  and  in  a  state 
of  negligence  actually  studied." 

The  next  complaint  made  by  Minister  Merry  to 
his  government  concerns  a  dinner  at  the  White 
House  given  in  honor  of  the  diplomatic  corps. 

At  the  organization  of  the  government  General 
Washington  showed  a  high  appreciation  of  the 
social  obligations  attending  his  office.  His  recep 
tions,  dinners,  and  social  visiting  were  conducted 
with  considerable  ceremony,  and  were  therefore 
condemned  by  Jefferson  as  imitations  of  the  fol 
lies  and  vanities  of  the  kings  and  potentates  of 
the  Old  World.  President  Adams  continued  the 
same  formalities  and  etiquette,  and  therefore  Jef- 

201 


THE   TRUE  THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

ferson's  attempt  to  abolish  all  etiquette,  when  he 
came  to  the  White  House,  and  to  ignore  even  those 
forms  of  courtesy  which  prevailed  among  people 
of  good  breeding  in  private  life  provoked  criticism 
which  must  have  been  mortifying  to  right-minded 
men.  It  was  not  a  mere  question  of  taste  as  to 
the  manner  in  which  he  should  receive  and  enter 
tain  his  guests,  as  it  might  have  been  at  Monti- 
cello.  The  President  was  required  by  his  position 
to  entertain  the  representatives  of  foreign  govern 
ments  at  the  White  House  and  to  treat  them  with 
distinguished  courtesy.  Few  men  of  his  day  were 
better  fitted  to  create  a  refined  circle  at  the  execu 
tive  mansion  without  the  sacrifice  of  simplicity  or 
Sincerity.  Nor  was  there  ever  any  complaint  of 
his  hospitality  or  deportment  at  Monticello.  While 
there  he  assumed  an  entirely  different  character. 
He  was  careful  of  his  attire,  he  was  scrupulous 
in  his  courtesy,  and  his  fine  manners  were  the 
theme  of  several  distinguished  writers  who  visited 
that  hospitable  mansion.  The  people  he  received 
at  the  White  House  were  the  guests  of  the  nation, 
and  expected  at  least  the  same  attentions  that  were 
offered  visitors  to  his  private  home. 

Jefferson's  table  was  famous.  As  stated  in 
another  chapter,  he  brought  with  him  from  Paris 
a  butler  and  a  cook  who  were  said  to  be  the  most 
accomplished  experts  in  the  art  of  the  cuisine  that 
had  ever  been  in  this  country.  His  residence  in 
France  had  given  him  a  relish  for  fine  dishes  and 
a  knowledge  of  the  possibilities  of  the  kitchen. 
The  writers  of  his  day  describe  his  dinners  as 
perfection,  and  his  viands  and  wines  as  being  the 
best  that  could  be  furnished.  One  of  the  Feder 
alist  Congressmen  remarked  that  he  "  wished  the 
President's  French  politics  were  as  good  as  his 
French  wines."  Patrick  Henry  denounced  him 

202 


"  JEFFERSONIAN   SIMPLICITY' ' 

on  the  stump  as  one  who  "  abjured  his  native 
victuals." 

Nor  was  there  ever  any  criticism  of  the  abun 
dance  or  the  quality  of  the  official  banquets.  We 
know  that  he  was  generous  to  extravagance  in 
providing  for  his  table.  He  went  to  market  him 
self  two  or  three  times  a  week,  and  in  his  volumi 
nous  note-books  we  learn  when  green  peas  and 
lettuce,  spring  lamb,  strawberries,  and  other  deli 
cacies  first  made  their  appearance.  He  took  great 
interest  in  such  things,  and  it  seems  strange  that  a 
President  of  the  United  States,  with  the  great  cares 
and  responsibilities  resting  upon  him,  should  have 
devoted  so  much  time  to  the  domestic  department 
of  his  household. 

It  was  the  "  rule  of  pele-mele"  at  the  Presidential 
banquets — which  is  the  French  for  pell-mell,  and 
literally  translated  means  "  confusion  and  disor 
der" — that  the  foreign  ministers  complained  of. 
No  seats  were  reserved  for  the  guests,  no  escorts 
assigned  to  the  ladies,  but  everybody  present  was 
expected  to  make  a  rush  for  the  table  when  the  din 
ner  was  announced,  seize  the  places  which  pleased 
them  best,  and  otherwise  conduct  themselves  in  an 
independent  manner  without  regard  to  their  neigh 
bors.  This  was  Jefferson's  idea  of  democratic 
simplicity  as  exemplified  at  the  banquets  he  gave 
to  distinguished  people  who  visited  Washington. 
The  consequence  was  what  might  be  expected. 
The  rudest  people  pushed  in  first  and  seized  the 
best  places.  People  of  refinement  who  refused  to 
engage  in  the  scramble  and  proceeded  in  order  to 
the  dining-room  were  obliged  to  content  themselves 
with  what  was  left.  On  one  occasion  several 
members  of  the  diplomatic  corps  found  themselves 
in  a  most  unpleasant  predicament.  Merry  writes 
to  his  government,  "  I  was  proceeding  to  place  my- 

203 


THE  TRUE  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

Self  next  to  the  wife  of  the  Spanish  minister  when 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  quickly 
passed  by  me  and  seized  the  seat  without  Mr. 
Jefferson  using  any  means  to  prevent  it  or  taking 
any  care  to  see  that  I  was  otherwise  placed/'  The 
Spanish  minister  also  officially  reported  the  inci 
dent  to  his  government  as  an  insult  to  his  wife. 

A  few  days  later  the  members  of  the  diplomatic 
corps  were  invited  to  dine  with  Secretary  Madison, 
who,  strange  to  say,  had  adopted  the  "  pele-mele" 
practice  of  the  President.  It  must  have  been  very 
mortifying  to  Mrs.  Madison,  who  was  a  woman 
of  great  dignity  and  refinement.  In  the  scramble 
for  seats  at  the  table  Mrs.  Merry,  wife  of  the  Brit 
ish  minister,  was  left  without  an  escort.  When  her 
husband  discovered  her  absence  he  sought  her  in 
the  drawing-room  and  escorted  her  to  the  only 
place  that  remained  vacant.  Imagine  the  British 
ambassador  at  this  day  trying  to  find  a  place  at 
the  President's  table  for  his  wife,  with  all  the 
other  guests  seated! 

The  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps  held  several 
meetings  and  decided  to  retaliate.  They  deter 
mined  that,  whenever  they  entertained,  each  min 
ister  should  escort  his  own  wife  to  the  table  and 
allow  the  Americans  to  take  care  of  themselves. 
This  resolution  was  carried  out  at  the  residence  of 
the  Spanish  minister  shortly  after,  and  created  a 
great  sensation.  The  Federalist  newspapers  re 
lieved  the  situation  somewhat  by  ridiculing  the 
administration  and  making  it  a  burlesque.  The 
French  minister  took  great  delight  in  the  scandal 
and  wrote  Talleyrand  that  "Washington  society 
is  turned  upside  down." 

After  a  little  experience  Jefferson  appears  to 
have  thought  better  of  the  matter  and  made  an 
effort  to  correct  his  mistake.  He  sent  Secretary 

204 


<  <  JEFFERSONI AN   SIMPLICITY' ' 

Madison  to  ask  whether  the  British  minister  would 
dine  with  the  President  privately,  and,  supposing 
that  he  had  received  an  affirmative  reply,  wrote 
an  invitation  with  his  own  hand.  Merry,  seeing 
a  chance  to  show  his  contempt  for  the  President, 
addressed  an  official  note  to  the  Secretary  of  State 
inquiring  whether  he  was  invited  in  his  official 
or  in  his  private  capacity.  If  the  former,  it  would 
be  necessary  for  him  to  obtain  the  permission  of 
his  sovereign  after  what  had  occurred.  If  invited 
in  his  private  capacity,  he  required  an  assurance 
from  the  President  that  he  would  be  treated  de 
cently.  To  this  Madison  replied  in  the  following 
language : 

"  Mr.  Madison  presents  his  compliments  to  Mr.  Merry. 
He  has  communicated  to  the  President  Mr.  Merry's  note 
of  this  morning,  and  has  the  honor  to  remark  to  him  that 
the  President's  invitation  being  in  the  style  used  by  him  in 
like  cases,  has  no  reference  to  the  points  of  form  which  will 
deprive  him  of  the  pleasure  of  Mr.  Merry's  company  at 
dinner  on  Monday  next.  Mr.  Madison  tenders  to  Mr.  Merry 
his  distinguished  considerations." 

Jefferson  soon  had  reason  to  regret  the  incident. 
It  was  the  topic  of  several  serious  Cabinet  con 
sultations.  The  British  minister  construed  Madi 
son's  note  as  an  insult  and  reported  it  to  his  gov 
ernment  as  another  exhibition  of  insolence  to  him 
self  and  to  his  sovereign.  The  President  was  thus 
compelled  to  make  it  the  subject  of  a  long  com 
munication  to  Monroe,  our  minister  to  London, 
who  was  directed  to  explain  and  apologize  to  the 
British  government.  Like  Adam,  he  threw  the 
blame  upon  a  woman — Mrs.  Merry,  who,  he  says, 
induced  her  husband  to  take  official  notice  of  the 
affair.  "  Be  assured  she  is  a  virago,"  he  declares, 
and  "if  she  perseveres  she  must  eat  her  soup  at 
home."  In  closing  the  communication  Jefferson 
represents  to  Monroe  that  "  It  had  excited  general 

205 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

emotions  of  contempt  and  indignation  that  the 
agents  of  foreign  nations  should  assume  to  dictate 
to  us  what  shall  be  the  laws  of  good  society." 

Tom  Moore,  the  Irish  poet,  who  was  visiting 
Washington  at  this  time,  amused  himself  and  the 
British  public  by  satirical  descriptions  of  the  social 
usages  at  the  American  capital  and  the  behavior  of 
the  President  towards  his  guests.  Like  Trollope, 
Dickens,  and  other  English  writers  in  the  earlier 
period  of  our  history,  he  took  the  President  as  a 
true  type,  and  represented  that  the  Americans  were 
"a  people  without  manners  or  refinement/*  thus 
creating  a  false  impression  among  Europeans. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  Jefferson's  rudeness  to 
Merry  in  a  great  measure  hastened  and  did  much 
to  provoke  the  War  of  1812. 

The  British  minister  was  not  the  only  member 
of  the  diplomatic  corps  with  whom  Jefferson  had 
difficulties.  Senor  Yrujo,  the  Spanish  minister, 
was  quite  as  troublesome,  and  perhaps  a  little  more 
so  because  his  wife  was  the  daughter  of  Governor 
McKean,  of  Philadelphia,  an  influential  Republi 
can.  Jefferson  was  placed  in  an  embarrassing  po 
sition  because  of  that  relationship.  Yrujo  took 
advantage  of  the  semi-protection  of  his  father-in- 
law  to  annoy  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the  Presi 
dent  in  a  most  exasperating  manner,  and  Madison 
directed  our  minister  at  Madrid  to  ask  for  his 
recall.  The  pretext  was  an  alleged  attempt  to 
bribe  the  editor  of  a  Philadelphia  paper  to  publish 
articles  reflecting  upon  the  administration,  but  the 
real  cause  was  the  annoyance  caused  by  Yrujo's 
behavior  concerning  the  "  pele-mele"  methods  at 
the  White  House. 

The  Spanish  government  took  no  notice  of  the 
request.  Yrujo  retired  from  Washington  and 
took  refuge  at  the  residence  of  his  father-in-law 

206 


"  JEFFERSONIAN   SIMPLICITY' ' 

in  Philadelphia,  where  Jefferson  sent  a  member 
of  the  Cabinet  to  give  him  and  his  wife's  family 
to  understand  that  his  return  to  Washington  would 
not  be  agreeable  to  the  government.  The  Spaniard 
remained  in  Philadelphia  but  continued  to  be  a 
thorn  in  the  flesh  of  the  President  because  of  fre 
quent  defiant  and  insulting  notes  addressed  to  the 
Secretary  of  State  concerning  his  treatment  on 
social  occasions  at  the  White  House  and  at  other 
places.  He  sent  copies  of  these  letters  to  his  diplo 
matic  colleagues,  to  his  home  government,  and 
to  the  newspapers  for  publication.  As  Yrujo  had 
the  moral  support  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  it  was 
extremely  embarrassing  for  the  President  and  the 
Secretary  of  State,  and  afforded  the  Federalist 
newspapers  much  material  for  criticising  and  ridi 
culing  the  administration. 

Jefferson  decidedly  got  the  worst  of  the  contro 
versy  with  the  diplomatic  corps,  and  during  the  re 
mainder  of  his  life  regretted  that  he  had  allowed 
his  political  interests  to  interfere  with  the  laws  of 
hospitality  and  propriety.  Nor  did  the  social  war 
end  with  his  term  as  President.  It  continued  into 
the  Madison  administration,  and  was  the  chief 
cause  of  the  disparaging  comments  made  by  for 
eigners  upon  American  society. 

About  the  middle  of  his  second  term  Jefferson 
changed  his  habits  and  became  a  gentleman  again. 
He  received  visitors  with  dignity  and  decorum. 
He  adopted  the  customs  of  refined  society,  and  the 
criticisms  of  his  manners  in  dispensing  hospitality 
were  changed  to  compliments.  He  also  altered  his 
style  of  dress.  "  He  has  laid  aside  his  old  slip 
pers,"  wrote  Senator  Plummer,  of  Massachusetts, 
"and  his  old  red  waistcoat  and  soiled  courderoy 
small  clothes,  and  is  dressed  all  in  black  with  clean 
linen  and  powdered  hair." 

207 


'THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

The  late  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  a  Democrat  who  re 
sembled  Jefferson  in  many  respects,  was  the  grati 
fied  owner  of  one  of  the  account-books,  now  in 
the  Lenox  Library,  New  York,  covering  his  per 
sonal  expenditures  from  January  i,  1791,  to  De 
cember  28,  1803,  including  three  years  as  Secretary 
of  State,  four  years  as  Vice-President,  and  three 
years  as  President.  It  is  an  octavo  of  heavy  paper, 
fully  bound  in  calf,  and  each  page  is  crowded, 
with  margins  of  only  an  eighth  of  an  inch  or  less, 
in  the  very  fine  but  legible  writing  of  Jefferson. 
In  places  it  is  so  fine  as  to  require  a  handglass 
to  be  read  by  persons  whose  sight  is  not  perfect. 
At  the  end  of  the  book  is  an  index  containing 
all  the  names  that  appear  in  the  account,  giving 
not  only  the  pages  upon  which  they  appear,  but 
the  number  of  times  they  appear  on  each  page. 
It  is  a  miracle  of  neatness  and  pains,  and  shows 
the  time  and  extraordinary  care  that  the  President 
must  have  spent  with  his  accounts.  Between  the 
items  of  expenditure  are  memoranda  of  matters 
which  the  writer  desired  to  remember.  It  appears 
from  the  account  that  Jefferson  frequently  travelled 
in  company  with  Adams  and  Madison,  each  keep 
ing  a  memoranda  of  their  joint  expenses  and  after 
wards  dividing  them.  There  are  also  several  joint 
accounts  with  Franklin,  and  we  find  among  other 
things  that  he  and  Adams  visited  Stratford-on- 
Avon  together,  that  they  paid  a  shilling  for  in 
specting  Shakespeare's  house,  another  for  seeing 
his  tomb,  four  shillings  two  pence  for  entertainment 
at  the  Inn,  and  two  shillings  as  fees  to  the  ser 
vants.  And  Jefferson  makes  a  note,  by  the  way, 
that  Adams  "ventured  the  bold  remark  that 
Shakespeare's  wit,  fancy,  taste  and  judgment,  his 
knowledge  of  life,  character  and  nature  were  im 
mortal." 

208 


PAGES    FROM    JEFFEF 
(Original  in  Lenox 


\CCOUNT-BOOKS 
,  New  York) 


« <  JEFFERSONIAN   SIMPLICITY'  ' 

We  learn  also  that  while  he  was  in  Philadelphia 
during  his  term  as  Secretary  of  State  Jefferson 
paid  four  hundred  dollars  a  year  rent  to  William 
Hamilton,  and  the  following  are  sample  entries : 

"  Sept.  8th  Took  possession  of  drawg  room  & 
parlor.  Begin  to  dine  at  home."  On  the  loth: 
"Billy's  wife  (Mrs.  Gardiner)  begins  to  wash 
for  me  @  £20  a  year."  On  the  nth  he  closed 
up  his  accounts  with  Mrs.  House,"  with  whom 
he  had  been  living,  by  giving  her  "  order  on  bank 
f°r  75%D.  in  full.  Gave  her  servant  2D." 

"  12th  Recd  from  bank  a  post  note  payable  to 
Carter  Braxton  for  n6%D.  and  remitted  it  to  him 
under  cover  to  Dr  Currie  to  pay  for  the  horse  I 
bought  of  him. 

"  Gave  J.  Madison  ord.  on  bank  for  95.260. 

"  Recd  back  from  him  23.260  over  paimt.  our 
account  standing  thus 

"  Travelling  expen  p<*  by  him 38.66 

Price  of  horse  I  bought  of  him  £25  Virgil. .     83.33 

Paid  by  him  Dec  26 50 

Jan    12 95.25 

Balance  returned  by  him 23.26 


^  145.25     145-25 

Very  few  men  were  ever  so  exact,  so  punctual, 
or  so  careful  about  details.  Besides  these  expense 
accounts,  he  kept  a  garden-book,  a  farm-book,  a 
weather-book,  and  a  receipt-book,  all  of  which  are 
wonders  of  neatness  and  minuteness,  and  the  rec 
ords,  after  the  lapse  of  a  century,  are  clear  and  legi 
ble,  although  as  fine  as  diamond  type.  The  price 
of  his  horses,  the  fees  paid  to  ferrymen,  the  tips 
he  gave  to  servants,  the  amount  he  dropped  into 
the  contribution  box  at  church,  were  all  carefully 
recorded,  but  we  find  no  entries  of  political  ex 
penses. 

14  209 


THE   TRUE  THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

By  an  entry  under  April  5,  1791,  we  learn  the 
name  of  Jefferson's  landlord  in  New  York,  and  that 
while  Secretary  of  State  he  occupied  a  small  house 
in  Maiden  Lane.  Hamilton,  his  colleague  in  the 
Cabinet,  lived  in  Pine  Street,  and  Aaron  Burr  in 
Nassau  Street,  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  Bel- 
mont's  banking-house,  where  Burr's  sign  as  attor- 
ney-at-law  was  hanging  as  late  as  1836.  The  entry 
reads :  "  April  5  delivd  to  H.  Remsen  to  be  sent  to 
Rob  &  P.  Bruce  the  post  note  of  66.5  Doll,  in  full 
for  the  years  rent  of  their  house  in  New  York. 
Note  it  was  put  into  an  open  letter  from  me  to 
them." 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  that  he  was  elected 
President  (1800)  he  sat  to  Stuart  for  his  portrait, 
for  which  his  diary  shows  that  he  paid  one  hundred 
dollars.  A  portrait  of  the  same  class  to-day  would 
cost  ten  times  as  much.  Jefferson's  taste  in  art 
must  have  advanced  considerably  during  the  pre 
vious  eight  years,  for  we  find  under  July  12,  1792, 
"pd  Williams  for  drawing  my  portrait  14!)." 

It  would  be  a  satisfaction  to  know  what  has  be 
come  of  Williams's  fourteen-dollar  sketch. 

There  are  no  entries  in  Jefferson's  expense-book 
for  his  first  inauguration  day,  March  4/1801,  nor 
for  the  day  previous;  but  we  find  that  on  the  2d 
he  settled  his  board-bill  at  Conrad's  with  an  order 
for  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  and  sixty-seven 
cents  on  a  Mr.  Barnes.  On  the  5th  he  seems  to 
have  expended  nothing,  but  on  the  6th  he  gave 
a  servant  five  cents  and  on  the  9th  subscribed 
for  the  Palladium,  for  which  he  paid  J.  Brown 
two  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  and  "  received  from 
J.  Barnes  ten  eagles."  He  notes  that  "Edward 
Maher  comes  into  my  service  @  12  d  per  month 
&  2  suites."  On  the  i3th  he  "gave  $2.25  in 
charity"  and  on  the  i8th  he  "employed  Joseph 

210 


«  JEFFERSONIAN   SIMPLICITY" 

Rapin  as  steward  at  100  guineas  a  year  for  him 
self  and  his  wife  as  femme  de  charge."  On  the 
2Oth  he  settled  his  account  with  the  barber  by 
the  payment  of  one  dollar;  on  the  28th  he  "gave 
in  charity  ten  d. ;  ditto  20  d. ;"  on  the  3ist  "  i  d." 
more  was  given  in  charity,  and  he  paid  Munchin 
two  dollars  for  a  pair  of  boots.  Those  constitute 
the  entire  expenditures  for  his  first  month  as 
President  of  the  United  States,  although  we  find 
later  that  he  purchased  a  considerable  amount  of 
supplies  for  which  bills  were  rendered  later. 

He  went  to  Monticello  about  the  first  of  April 
and  remained  there  until  the  last  of  May,  making 
preparations  for  permanent  absence  at  Washington. 
During  this  time  the  White  House  was  in  charge 
of  Joseph  Rapin,  the  steward  he  had  brought  from 
Paris,  and  the  affairs  of  the  government  were 
looked  after  by  James  Madison,  the  Secretary  of 
State,  and  Edward  Coles,  the  President's  private 
secretary,  whose  salary  was  six  hundred  dollars 
a  year.  On  his  return  to  Washington  we  learn 
from  the  account-book  "on  the  27th  of  May,  1801 
John  Cramer  comes  into  my  service  @  12  a  month 
+  2d  for  drink,  2  suites  of  cloathes  &  a  pair  of 
boots." 

Running  through  his  expenditures  for  the  year 
we  find  that  Jefferson's  duties  as  President  did  not 
distract  his  attention  from  his  household  affairs, 
and  the  most  careful  and  exact  housewife  could 
not  have  been  more  conscientious  in  noting  every 
penny  paid  for  any  purpose.  When  he  gave  a  tip 
to  his  servants  or  dropped  a  penny  in  the  hand  of 
a  beggar  he  recorded  it  as  faithfully  as  the  pay 
ments  of  interest  upon  his  debts.  On  July  27, 
1 80 1,  he  bought  a  boot- jack  for  seventy-five  cents, 
and  we  know  every  time  he  purchased  an  article 
of  linen  or  a  shaving-mug  or  a  pair  of  hose.  The 

211 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

President  must  have  had  many  appeals  from  the 
poor  and  from  benevolent  associations,  because 
every  few  days  there  is  an  entry  of  from  two 
dollars  to  fifty  dollars  "  in  charity."  In  January, 
1802,  his  charitable  contributions  amounted  to  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars,  and  during  his 
first  year  in  the  White  House  the  total  was 
$1585.60. 

It  has  been  suggested  by  sceptical  persons  that 
in  Jefferson's  accounts,  as  in  other  cases,  "  charity 
covers  a  multitude  of  sins/'  but  there  is  no  justi 
fication  for  such  a  suggestion.  It  is  possible, 
however,  that  his  contributions  to  political  organi 
zations  and  newspapers  may  have  been  entered  as 
"  charity,"  because  none  appear  in  any  otheY  form. 
His  private  letters  show  that  he  sometimes  con 
tributed  to  the  support  of  several  newspapers  that 
advocated  the  principles  of  the  Republican  party 
and  defended  the  policy  of  his  administration, 
and  also  that  certain  literary  gentlemen  who  wrote 
pamphlets  and  newspaper  paragraphs  frequently 
applied  to  him  for  pecuniary  aid,  but  there  is  no 
record  of  any  such  payments  in  his  expense  ac 
counts. 

On  January  I,  1802,  we  find  an  entry  that  gives 
an  interesting  suggestion  of  the  manner  in  which 
funds  were  transmitted  from  one  part  of  the  coun 
try  to  the  other  in  the  days  before  bank  checks  and 
drafts  were  used  for  such  purposes.  He  writes: 
"Inclosed  to  James  Taylor  of  Norfolk  705  d  in 
bank  bills  cut  in  two  one  set  of  halves  sent  now 
the  other  to  follow  by  another  post  this  to  pay 
for  the  4  +  5  of  Madeira.  Inclosed  to  Gibson 
and  Jefferson  1500  in  bank  bills  in  halves  as  above." 
On  January  8  following  appears  the  entry,  "  Sent 
James  Taylor  &  G.  &  J.  the  rest  of  his  bills." 

At  the  end  of  his  first  three  months  as  President 

212 


"  JEFFERSONIAN   SIMPLICITY" 

Jefferson  summed  up  his  expenses  for  that  period 
as  follows : 

"  Provisions    $215.68 

Wood  109.08 

Miscellanies   48.98 

Servants    192.00 


565-84" 

and  notes  that  "there  are  moreover  considerable 
supplies  to-wit  groceries."  It  will  be  noticed  that 
the  addition  is  incorrect  and  that  the  total  should 
be  $565.74.  These  mistakes  frequently  occur 
throughout  the  account-book,  although  Jefferson 
tells  us  in  one  of  his  letters  that  "  mathematics  is 
my  great  passion.  Mathematics  is  music  to  me." 
A  century  ago  there  were  almost  as  many  ser 
vants  in  the  White  House  as  there  are  to-day.  The 
monthly  pay-roll  on  June  9,  1801,  was  as  follows: 

"M.   Rapin $62.67 

M.   Julien 25. 

Joseph  Daugherty 16. 

Chris  Liverman   14. 

Edward  Maher 14. 

Maria  Murphy 9. 

Noel  Gargon  de  Cuisine  8. 

The  cook  woman 30. 

John  Kramer 5.50 

John  Baker 10. 

Captain  L's  men  half  a  month's  drink I. 


195-17" 

"This,"  he  says,  "makes  the  regular  establism 
of  the  servants  135  d  per  month  besides  liveries 
and  board  and  besides  Rapin."  This  is  another 
inaccuracy,  because,  if  he  deducts  from  this  total 
the  wages  of  Rapin,  the  steward,  which  are  $62.67 
per  month,  it  will  leave  the  pay-roll  for  the  re 
mainder  $132.50. 

At  least  three  of  these  servants, — Rapin,  the 
steward,  M.  Julien,  the  French  chef,  whom  he 

213 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS    JEFFERSON 

brought  from  Paris  while  Vice-President,  and  Noel, 
the  kitchen  boy,  were  French ;  Daugherty,  Maher, 
and  Murphy  must  have  been  Irish,  and  it  is  proba 
ble  that  "  the  cook  woman"  was  a  negress,  although 
we  have  no  evidence  to  that  effect.  Mrs.  Ran 
dolph  mentions  in  one  of  her  letters  that  all  of 
the  servants  at  the  Executive  Mansion  were  white 
except  one  woman  and  a  coachman  who  were 
brought  from  Monticello.  Being  slaves  their 
names  do  not  appear  in  this  list.  Another  matter 
worthy  of  comment  is  that  Mr.  Jefferson  should 
employ  free  whites  as  servants  at  the  Executive 
Mansion  when  he  owned  one  hundred  and  fifty 
or  more  slaves  on  his  plantations,  only  a  few  days' 
journey  distant.  No  explanation  of  this  fact  ap 
pears  in  any  of  his  letters,  nor  is  it  alluded  to. 
Knowing  his  abhorrence  of  slavery,  perhaps  we 
may  properly  infer  that  he  desired  to  set  an  ex 
ample  to  his  fellow-countrymen. 

Edward  Bacon,  his  overseer,  says:  "I  visited 
Mr.  Jefferson  at  Washington  three  times  while 
he  was  president.  The  second  time  I  went  he 
had  got  very  much  displeased  with  two  of  his 
servants,  Davy  and  Fanny,  and  he  wished  me  to 
take  them  to  Alexandria  and  sell  them.  They 
were  married  and  had  got  into  a  terrible  quarrel. 
Davy  was  jealous  of  his  wife,  and  I  reckon  with 
good  reason.  When  I  got  there  they  learned  what 
I  had  come  for,  and  they  were  in  great  trouble. 
They  wept,  and  begged  and  made  good  promises 
and  made  such  an  ado,  that  they  begged  the  old 
gentleman  out  of  it.  But  it  was  a  good  lesson 
for  them.  I  never  heard  any  more  complaint  of 
them;  and  when  I  left  Mr.  Jefferson,  I  left  them 
both  at  Monticello.  He  had  eleven  servants  with 
him  from  Monticello.  He  had  a  French  cook  in 
Washington  named  Julien,  and  he  took  Eda  and 

214 


«  JEFFERSONI AN   SIMPLICITY" 

Fanny  there  to  learn  French  cookery.  He  always 
preferred  French  cookery.  Eda  and  Fanny  were 
afterwards  his  cooks  at  Monticello.  He  had  a 
very  long  dining  room  and  his  table  was  chock 
full  every  one  of  the  sixteen  days  I  was  there. 
There  were  Congressmen,  foreigners  and  all  sort 
of  people  to  dine  with  him.  He  dined  at  four 
o'clock,  and  they  generally  sat  and  talked  until 
night." 

Speaking  of  Rapin,  Bacon  says :  "  He  was  a 
very  smart  man,  was  well  educated  and  was  as 
much  of  a  gentleman  in  his  appearance  as  any 
man.  His  carriage  driver  was  an  Irishman  named 
Dougherty.  He  would  get  out  the  wagon  early 
in  the  morning,  and  Rapin  would  go  with  him 
to  Georgetown  to  market.  I  have  all  my  life  been 
in  the  habit  of  getting  up  about  four  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  and  I  went  with  them  very  often. 
Lamar  told  me  that  it  often  took  fifty  dollars  to 
pay  for  what  marketing  they  would  use  in  a 
day.  Mr.  Jefferson's  salary  did  not  support  him 
while  he  was  president." 

At  the  end  of  the  year  Jefferson  was  accustomed 
to  foot  up  his  expenses,  and  the  following  analysis 
from  March  4,  1801,  to  March  4,  1802,  the  first 
year  of  his  Presidency,  appears : 

"  Secretary   450. 

Provisions 4504.84 

Fuel    690.88 

Miscellaneous    295.82 

Servants 2675.85 

Groceries  (not  wines) 2003.71 

Wines 2797.38 

Stable    884.45 

Dress  Saddlery  &c 557-36 

Charities  {763.20  | 9?8  2Q 

Contingencies    357-8i 

Books  &  Stationery 391.30     16797.59 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

Debts  prior  to  March  4-01  pd 3417-59 

Loans 170. 

Acquisitions  4712.54 

Building 2076.29 

Furniture    545-48      11422.10 

Monte-  (  Household  Expenses 652.82 

cello     ( Plantation    3732.23       4385.05 

Family  aids  1030.14       1030.10 

32634.84      32634.84" 

In  addition  to  this  he  often  takes  certain  items 
of  expenditure  and  classifies  them,  such  as  the 
amount  paid  for  seed  on  his  farm,  the  amount 
paid  for  travelling  expenses,  his  expenditures  for 
books  and  wines,  and  here  we  have  during  his 
first  year  in  the  White  House  what  he  calls  "A 
View  of  the  Consumption  of  butchers  meat  from 
Sept  6,  1 80 1  to  June  12,  1802; 

"  1801  lb  lb 

Sept  6-30  419  25  days  is  17  per  day  for  n  servants. 

no  masters. 
Oct  i-Dec  5,       2361  71  days  is  38^ 

deduct  1 8      per  day  for  n  servts. 

20^  for  the  masters. 
Dec  6-May  i       6246  152  days  is  41      per  day 

deduct  1 8      per  day  for  n  servts. 

23      for  masters 
May  2-7  212    6  days  is  35 >£  per  day 

deduct  15      for  9  servants 

20%  for  the  masters 
May  8-29  357  22  days  is  16%  per  day  for  9  servts 

or    i  %  each    no  masters 
May3o-June  12    375  14  days  is  26^ 

deduct  1 8      for  n  servants 

8^  for  masters" 

With  his  first  year's  salary  as  President  he  man 
aged  to  pay  off  many  of  his  small  debts  and  to 
get  through  the  year  on  his  income,  which  in 
cludes  his  receipts  from  his  property  in  Virginia. 
The  idea  of  laying  anything  by  seems  not  to  have 

216 


"  JEFFERSONIAN   SIMPLICITY" 

occurred  to  him.     He  thinks  he  had  about  three 
hundred  dollars  in  hand  at  the  end  of  the  year. 

Under  date  of  October  31,  1802,  appears  the 
following  analysis  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  expenses  as 
President  for  the  previous  six  months: 


HOUSEHOLD. 


Provisions. 

Fuel. 

Servants. 

Contin 
gencies. 

Monthly. 

May 

310  68 

12 

16^  17 

487  8s 

June 

lOd.  O1, 

7O 

1  60  2O 

2^7  no 

erg   17 

Tulv. 

^07  1  6 

27  7^ 

176  87 

ii  6^ 

C2i  II 

„  J  '    j  
*  Ails'  . 

I5O  21 

I7«r 

I?  4c 

^8  66 

*Sep  

2OQ  17 

I4.Q 

5=8    17 

Oct  

280  « 

287.  o=c 

•2  6e;  4.6 

12  8^ 

QC4  80 

1570.80 

396.80 

1191.40 

61.81 

322O.8l 

26l.8o 

66.13 

198.50 

10.30 

535.80 

STABLE. 


Forage. 

Smith. 

Sad 
dler. 

Contin 
gent. 

Monthly. 

Total 
monthly. 

May  

21.12 

II 

•*2.  12 

5IQ.Q7 

June  

IQ.  ^2 

•z  74 

•2.74 

4.  ^7S 

^I.IVS 

580.  30^ 

July-  .  . 

100.78 

5.72 

^.12 

2 

111.62 

6^4.7^ 

*Aus:  

.Q21; 

IO.7I2 

^4Q.  ^72 

*Sen 

5 

JC     CQ 

7c 

368  882 

Oct. 

61  67 

I-j 

I  82 

77  24. 

IO^2  1^ 

207.89 

37-  96 

8.68 

19-05 

273.58 

3494-39 

34.65 

6.32 

1.44 

3.17 

45.60 

582.00 

*  "  I  \vas  absent  these  months. 

"The  above  does  not  include  Mr.  Barnes  bills  for  pro 
visions  abt  150  p 900 

Cloathing  7  suits  of  which  5  are  liveries  about 350 

Doctors  bills                                               about 50 

Wines  amounting  to  about 500 

1800' 
217 


THE  TRUE  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

During  the  year  from  March  4,  1802,  to  MarcK 
4,  1803,  while  he  was  President,  his  total  dis 
bursements  were  twenty-five  thousand  two  hun 
dred  and  sixty-three  dollars,  and  he  classifies  them 
as  follows,  although  it  is  noticed  that  his  additions 
are  incorrect: 


"  Provisions  4059.98 

Wines 1296.63 

Groceries 1624.76       6981.37 

Fuel    553.68 

Secretary 600. 

Servants    2014.89 

Miscellaneous 433-3O 

Stable 399.06 

Dress    246.05 

Charities 1585.60 

Pres  House 226.59 

Books  497-41 

Household  ex 393.          7449.59 

Monte-  (  Plantation    2226.45 

cello     { Family 1028.79       3255.20 

Loans 274. 

o       Debts   529.61 

Lands  bought 2156.86 

Buildings 3567.92 

Carriages 363.75 

Furniture    664.10       7576.99 


25263.19" 

He  notes  that  these  disbursements  were  met 
by  his  salary  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  as 
President,  by  nine  hundred  and  fifteen  dollars,  pro 
ceeds  of  the  sale  of  tobacco,  three  hundred  and 
eighty-nine  dollars  received  from  the  rent  of  land, 
etc.,  etc.,  etc.,  and  then  enters  this  confession : 


"  I  ought  by  this  statement  to  have  cash  in  hand $183.70 

But  I  actually  have  in  hand 293. 

So  that  the  errors  of  this  statemnt  amt  to 109.20 

"  The  whole  of  the  nails  used  for  Monticello  and  smiths- 
work  are  omitted  because  no  account  was  kept  of  them. 
This  makes  part  of  the  error  and  the  articles  of  nails  has 
been  extraordinary  this  year." 

218 


VIII 


JEFFERSON  S   FRIENDS   AND    HIS   ENEMIES 


JEFFERSON'S  affection  for  and  his  loyalty  to  his 
friends  became  a  provgib,  but  he  was  very  eyartmg 
in  his  demands  upon  them,  anrl  flmppprl  them  when 
they  would  not  submit  to  his  domination.  Like 
other  great  leaders  of  men,  he  was  willing  to  share 
his  honors  with  and  accept  the  advice  of  those  who 
conceded  his  superiority,  but  rivalry  could  not  be 
tolerated,  and  the  ambitions  of  others  must  be  sub 
ordinate  to  his  own.  For  these  reasons  he  fell  out 
with  Patrick  Henry,  John  Marshall,  and  John  Ran 
dolph,  a  famous  triumvirate.  James  Madison  was 
always  his  nearest  and  most  valued  friend,  and 
although  a  stronger  man  that  Jefferson  in  some 
respects,  his  amiable  temper  and  admirable  tact 
permitted  him  to  enjoy  a  degree  of  independence 
that  Jefferson  would  not  allow  in  any  other  of  his 
apostles.  Monroe  was  a  loyal  follower  and  imi- 
t|itor,  but  their  natures  were  not  congenial. 
r~Jefferson  and  Madison  were  born  within  a  few 
miles  of  each  other;  their  parents  were  friends, 
and  their  intimacy  began  in  childhood,  although 
there  was  a  difference  of  seven  years  in  their  ages// 
When  Jefferson  returned  from  college,  laden  with 
learning  and  bursting  with  his  own  importance, 
the  elder  Madison  consulted  him  concerning  the 
education  of  his  son,  and  in  a  patronizing  way 
Jefferson  prepared  a  manual  of  study  and  reading 
for  the  lad  to  follow.  From  that  hour  he  con 
tinued  to  treat  Madison  as  a  protege,  and  the  latter 

219 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

submitted  to  it  without  objection.  He  never  tired 
of  boasting  of  Madison's  abilities,  his  learning,  his 
purity  of  character,  political  integrity,  his  wisdom 
and  accuracy  of  judgment,  as  if  he  were  himself 
responsible  for  them,  and  it  was  a  part  of  his  life 
plan  that  this  beloved  disciple  should  follow  in  his 
political  footsteps,  succeed  him  in  his  various 
offices,  and  wear  the  mantle  that  fell  from  his 
shoulders.  The  fidelity  of  their  friendship  was 
as  remarkable  as  its  duration,  for  during  fifty  years 
of  more  or  less  intimate  companionship  they  never 
quarrelled.  In  his  will  Jefferson  says : 

"  I  give  to  my  old  friend  James  Madison  of 
Montpelier,  my  gold  mounted  walking  staff  of 
animal  horn,  as  a  token  of  the  cordial  and  affec 
tionate  friendship,  which,  for  half  a  century  has 
united  us  in  the  same  principles  and  pursuits  of 
what  we  have  deemed  for  the  greatest  good  of  our 
country." 

His  boyish  affection  was  expended  upon  Dabney 
Carr,  with  whom  there  was  a  David-and- Jonathan 
relationship, — afterwards  strengthened  when  Carr 
married  his  sister  Martha.  Carr  was  the  best  be 
loved  of  his  companions  at  school,  and  when  at 
home,  during  the  long  summers,  the  friends  and 
fellow-students  were  inseparable.  Near  Shadwell, 
Jefferson's  home,  was  an  isolated  mountain,  five 
hundred  and  eighty  feet  high,  covered  to  the  sum 
mit  with  the  primeval  forest,  which  he  afterwards 
named  Monticello.  In  the  deepest  shade  of  its 
luxuriant  woods,  under  an  ancient  oak,  the  boy 
friends  constructed  a  rustic  seat ;  and  thither  they 
would  retire  with  their  books  and  pass  peaceful 
days  in  study  and  conversation.  Becoming 
strongly  attached  to  the  spot,  they  made  a  com 
pact  that  whichever  of  them  died  first  should  be 
buried  by  the  other  under  that  grand  old  tree. 

220 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS  AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

The  compact  was  fulfilled.  Jefferson  was  absent 
from  home  when  Carr  died,  and  on  his  return 
found  that  his  friend  had  been  buried  at  Shad- 
well.  Mindful  of  his  promise,  he  had  the  body 
disinterred,  and  placed  it  beneath  that  tree  whose 
branches  now  bend  over  such  illustrious  dead, — 
for  that  was  the  origin  of  the  little  graveyard  of 
Monticello. 

Among  Jefferson's  papers  after  his  death  there 
was  found  the  following  memorandum,  written 
on  a  sheet  of  note-paper:  "  Send  for  a  plate  of 
copper  to  be  nailed  on  the  tree  at  the  foot  of  his 
grave,  with  this  inscription, — '  To  his  virtue,  good 
sense,  learning,  and  friendship,  this  stone  is  dedi 
cated  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  of  all  men  living, 
loved  him  most/  ' 

Next  to  Carr  in  Jefferson's  youthful  affections 
was  Patrick  Henry.  Their  intimacy,  mutual  con 
fidences,  and  aspirations  continued  until  political 
differences  and  personal  rivalries  forced  them  apart. 
Henry's  impetuous  nature  and  undisciplined  dis 
position  would  not  submit  to  the  exactions  of  Jef 
ferson's  leadership.  An  incidental  dispute  over 
a  trivial  matter  was  the  germ  of  a  bitter  enmity 
which  ended  only  with  their  lives.  Henry  became 
a  Federalist,  a  follower  of  Alexander  Hamilton, 
and  grew  to  hate  Jefferson  as  hotly  as  he  had  once 
loved  him.  His  old  friend  was  often  the  object 
of  his  most  vehement  invective  and  merciless  ridi 
cule.  Jefferson  was  inclined  to  be  charitable, 
however,  and  in  reply  to  a  request  for  information 
from  William  Wirt,  the  biographer  of  Patrick 
Henry,  furnished  many  interesting  and  valuable 
reminiscences,  but  said,  "  His  apostacy  sunk  him 
to  nothing  in  the  estimation  of  his  country,  and 
a  man  who  had  been  the  idol  of  a  country  beyond 
any  one  that  ever  lived,  descended  to  the  grave 

221 


THE   TRUE  THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

with  less  than  its  indifference,  and  verified  the 
saying  of  the  philosopher  that  '  no  man  must  be 
called  happy  until  he  is  dead/  '  Jefferson  in  a 
letter  to  James  Monroe  says  that  "  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  State  was  offered  to  P.  H.  [by  Presi 
dent  Adams]  in  order  to  draw  him  over  and 
gain  some  popularity,  but  not  until  there  was  a 
moral  certainty  that  he  would  not  accept  it." 

When  Jefferson  was  associated  with  Dr.  Frank 
lin  in  draughting  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
a  mutual  admiration  was  excited  that  lasted 
through  their  lives.  His  scientific  inclinations  led 
him  to  take  an  interest  in  Franklin's  work,  and 
they  were  frequently  together  in  Philadelphia,  as 
they  afterwards  were  in  Paris.  He  said  that 
"  Franklin  was  the  greatest  man  and  the  greatest 
ornament  of  the  age  and  the  country  in  which 
he  lived."  When  Franklin  returned  home,  loaded 
with  all  the  honors  and  love  that  the  admiration 
of  the  French  people  could  lavish  upon  him,  Jef 
ferson  was  appointed  to  take  his  place  at  the  Court 
of  St.  Germain. 

"  You  replace  Dr.  Franklin,"  said  Count  de 
Vergennes,  the  French  Premier,  to  him. 

"  I  merely  succeed  him ;  no  one  could  replace 
him,"  was  Jefferson's  ready  reply. 

Five  years  later,  when  passing  through  Phila 
delphia  on  his  way  to  New  York  to  become  Secre 
tary  of  State,  he  found  Franklin  on  his  death-bed, 
and  leaves  in  his  memoirs  an  affectionate  account 
of  their  last  interview.  Franklin  placed  in  his 
hands  a  paper  containing  his  recollections  of  inter 
views  with  the  British  ministry,  when,  before  the 
Revolution,  he  was  endeavoring  to  secure  a  peace 
ful  separation  of  the  colonies.  Jefferson  regarded 
it  of  the  greatest  historical  importance,  but  it  con 
tained  facts  and  comments  decidedly  prejudicial 

222 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

to  the  honor  and  truthfulness  of  the  British  min 
istry  at  that  date.  Jefferson  afterwards  gave  the 
manuscript  to  William  Temple  Franklin,  the  grand 
son  and  literary  executor  of  the  Great  Printer, 
to  publish  with  his  other  papers;  but  it  did  not 
appear  with  them,  and  he  was  never  able  to  secure 
a  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  omission.  "  It 
certainly  established  facts  so  atrocious  to  the  Brit^ 
ish  government  that  its  suppression  would  be 
worth  to  them  a  great  price,"  he  said,  "  but  could 
the  grandson  of  Franklin  be  to  such  a  degree  an 
accomplice  in  the  paracide  of  the  memory  of  his 
immortal  grand  father." 

In  August,  1824,  Lafayette  arrived  at  New 
York.  He  had  been  intimate  with  Jefferson  dur 
ing  Revolutionary  times  in  the  United  States  and 
afterwards  while  the  latter  was  minister  to  France, 
and  their  correspondence  had  been  maintained 
regularly  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Upon  his 
arrival  Lafayette  found  awaiting  him  an  invitation 
to  Monticello  in  which  Jefferson  says,  "  We  are 
impatient  to  give  you  embraces  of  friendship." 
To  Monticello,  therefore,  Lafayette  hastened  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  Jefferson  Randolph  has  left 
us  a  description  of  their  meeting. 

Until  1805,  towards  the  close  of  the  first  year 
of  his  second  term,  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke, 
able,  impetuous,  vindictive,  equally  gifted  in  eulogy 
and  vituperation,  was  Jefferson's  party  leader  and 
personal  representative  on  the  floor  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  carried  through  all  his 
schemes  with  an  iron  hand  and  an  inflexible  will. 
He  gagged  the  House  to  pass  the  bill  to  pay  for 
the  Louisiana  Territory  and  to  carry  out  Jeffer 
son's  plan  of  government  for  it.  During  Jeffer 
son's  first  term  he  did  everything  the  President 
wanted  done,  but  when,  on  December  6,  1805, 

223 


THE  TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

the  President  sent  a  confidential  message  to  the 
House  asking  an  appropriation  for  secret  service 
during  the  war  between  France  and  England,  Ran 
dolph  astonished  everybody  by  attacking  Jeffer 
son's  policy  and  political  integrity  with  the  most 
vehement  invective.  He  called  him  a  Pharisee 
and  a  hypocrite,  and  dubbed  him  "  St.  Thomas 
of  Cantingbury,"  a  satire  Jefferson  never  could 
appreciate.  There  was  never  a  more  radical  or 
sensational  change  in  the  attitude  of  a  member 
of  the  House,  but  Randolph  was  always  an  ex 
tremist,  and  was  found  on  the  skirmish-line  in 
whatever  enterprise  he  was  engaged.  He  de 
nounced  Jefferson  with  the  same  vigor  and  the 
same  persistency  that  he  had  shown  in  defending 
him.  Thereafter  he  endeavored  to  defeat  the  meas 
ures  introduced  by  the  administration  as  eagerly 
as  he  had  tried  to  pass  them  a  few  months  before; 
but  Jefferson's  hold  upon  his  party  was  so  firm 
that  only  eleven  Republicans  went  off  with  Ran 
dolph,  and  six  of  those  returned  to  the  ranks  of 
their  party  before  the  end  of  the  session.  Jeffer 
son  took  Randolph's  defection  philosophically,  as 
usual,  and  endeavored  to  turn  it  to  a  political 
advantage.  He  afterwards  represented  to  Madison 
that  it  solidified  and  harmonized  the  rest  of  the 
party. 

All  the  reasons  of  Randolph's  desertion  were 
never  given,  and  it  excited  many  surmises.  Ran 
dolph  was  too  honorable  to  discuss  his  private 
relations  with  Jefferson,  and  the  latter  represented 
that  he  did  not  know  the  cause  of  the  disaffection. 
Randolph's  friends  assumed  that  he  had  discovered 
improper  political  intrigues  on  Jefferson's  part,  and 
felt  a  genuine  and  honest  dissatisfaction  with  the 
policy  of  the  administration. 

During  the  last  night  of  the  second  session  of 
224 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

the  Ninth  Congress,  when  the  duties  on  salt  were 
under  discussion  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
a  member  by  the  name  of  Williams  was  called  to 
order  by  Thomas  Mann  Randolph,  a  son-in-law 
of  President  Jefferson,  who  construed  his  remarks 
as  an  insult  to  the  President.  John  Randolph 
of  Roanoke  intimated  that  Thomas  Mann  Ran 
dolph  was  drunk.  The  latter  lost  his  temper  and 
attacked  his  colleague  in  a  violent  manner.  John 
Randolph  sent  Garnet,  also  a  Representative  from 
Virginia,  to  demand  an  apology  and  retraction. 
Edward  Coles,  the  private  secretary  of  President 
Jefferson,  represented  Thomas  Mann  Randolph. 
Garnet,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  in 
formed  Coles  that  his  principal  required  a  full 
retraction  and  apology,  or  Thomas  Mann  Randolph 
must  give  him  the  satisfaction  of  a  gentleman. 
The  emissaries  separated  to  confer  with  their  prin 
cipals.  In  the  meantime  Jefferson,  who  abhorred 
duelling  from  principle  and  was  apprehensive  of 
a  public  scandal,  persuaded  his  son-in-law  to  yield. 
Whereupon  Thomas  Mann  Randolph  arose  in  the 
House  and  explained  that  he  had  been  laboring 
under  a  misapprehension;  that  he  had  supposed 
the  remarks  of  John  Randolph  were  intended  for 
him,  but  was  glad  to  be  informed  that  they  were 
not.  He  had  no  disposition  to  wound  the  feelings 
of  any  gentleman  who  did  not  intend  to  wound 
his  feelings,  and  therefore  desired  to  withdraw 
his  recent  references  to  his  colleague  and  apologize 
for  his  mistake.  John  Randolph  made  a  concilia 
tory  reply,  accepting  the  explanation  and  apology 
in  good  faith;  but  the  incident  rankled  in  the 
breasts  of  both  and  gave  the  President  great  anx 
iety.  He  feared  that  the  ill-feeling  might  break 
out  at  any  slight  provocation,  and  a  few  days 
later,  after  his  son-in-law  had  returned  to  Monti- 
is  225 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

cello,  he  appealed  to  James  Ogilvie,  a  mutual  friend 
and  neighbor,  as  follows : 

"  DEAR  SIR  : — As  Mr.  Randolph  might  possibly  be  from 
home  &  the  inclosed  in  that  case  be  opened  by  my  daughter, 
I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  putting  it  under  your  cover  with 
a  request  to  put  it  into  his  own  hands.  The  subject  of  it 
is  perhaps  unknown  to  my  daughter,  &  may  as  well  con 
tinue  so.  It's  object  is  to  induce  Mr  Randolph  to  act  with 
coolness  &  an  attention  to  his  situation  in  this  unhappy 
affair  between  him  and  J.  R,  which  the  newspapers  are 
endeavoring  to  revive.  It  is  not  inclination  in  anybody,  but 
a  fear  of  the  opinion  of  the  world  which  leads  men  to  the 
absurd  &  immoral  decision  of  differences  by  duel.  The 
greatest  service,  therefore,  which  Mr.  T.  M.  R.'s  friends  can 
render  him  is  to  convince  him  that  althp'  the  world  esteems 
courage  &  disapproves  of  the  want  of  it,  yet  in  a  case  like 
his,  &  especially  where  it  has  been  before  put  out  of  doubt, 
the  mass  of  mankind  &  particularly  that  thinking  part  whose 
esteem  we  value,  would  condemn  in  a  husband  &  father 
of  a  numerous  family  every  thing  like  forwardness  in  this 
barbarous  and  lawless  appeal.  A  conduct,  cool,  candid,  and 
merely  defensive  is  quite  as  much  as  could  be  admitted 
by  any  in  such  a  case  as  his ;  and  I  verily  believe  that  if 
such  a  conduct  be  observed  on  his  part,  the  matter  may  yet 
die  away.  I  should  be  unwilling  to  have  it  known  that  I 
meddle  at  all  in  this,  and  therefore  write  to  you  in  con 
fidence.  Accept  my  friendly  salutations  &  assurances  of 
esteem  &  respect. 

"  TH  :  JEFFERSON. 

"MR.  OGILVIE." 

The  popular  explanation  of  Randolph's  defec 
tion  was  Jefferson's  indifference  regarding  the  im 
peachment  of  Justice  Chase  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
who,  in  a  decision  from  the  bench,  had  denounced 
the  democratic  tendencies  of  the  executive  branch 
of  the  government.  Jefferson  resented  this  as  a 
violation  of  courtesy  as  well  as  an  attack  upon 
the  prerogatives  of  a  coordinate  branch  of  the 
government,  and  encouraged  Randolph,  even  if 
he  did  not  request  him,  to  secure  Chase's  impeach 
ment.  Randolph  was  prosecutor  and  conducted 
the  case  with  great  zeal  and  ability,  but  the  Senate, 
although  it  had  a  Democratic  majority,  acquitted 

226 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS  AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

Chase  on  every  count.  Jefferson  showed  no  in 
terest  in  the  trial.  It  was  even  whispered  that  he 
considered  the  impeachment  ill-advised  and  was 
opposed  to  conviction.  If  Randolph  heard  these 
rumors  they  would  naturally  provoke  his  fierce  and 
dramatic  nature  beyond  forgiveness.  He  became 
the  President's  most  violent  opponent  and  most 
relentless  critic  from  that  moment,  and  the  chief 
instrument  in  disturbing  the  serenity  of  Jefferson's 
second  term. 

Another  Virginian  who  refused  to  accept  the 
political  doctrines  of  Jefferson  or  submit  to  his 
dictation  was  John  Marshall.  He  was  studying 
law  with  George  Wythe  in  Williamsburg  when 
that  gentleman  was  engaged  with  Jefferson  in 
writing  a  new  code  for  Virginia.  While  Jefferson 
was  in  Paris  Marshall  and  Madison  became  the 
most  conspicuous  figures  in  the  State,  and  more 
than  any  other  of  the  citizens  were  responsible 
for  its  ratification  of  the  new  Constitution,  to 
which  he  objected.  When  he  returned  to  be  Sec 
retary  of  State  he  resumed  his  influence  over 
Madison,  but  Marshall  had  grown  beyond  him, 
and  in  the  Cabinet  quarrels  took  the  side  of 
Washington  and  Hamilton.  Thus  alienated  from 
his  former  leader,  Marshall  grew  away  from  him 
until  mutual  criticisms  made  them  enemies.  Jef 
ferson  was  about  ten  years  older  than  Marshall; 
they  were  born  and  reared  in  the  same  neighbor 
hood,  and  Jefferson  attempted  to  exercise  over 
him,  as  he  did  over  Madison  and  Monroe,  the  in 
fluence  of  an  elder  brother.  Marshall  resented  the 
patronizing  disposition  of  the  older  man  and  his 
tendency  to  dictation.  Madison  was  more  amiable, 
and  clung  to  Jefferson  like  a  vine  to  a  tree.  Jef 
ferson  said  of  him  that  he  lacked  firmness  of  char 
acter,  but  Marshall  had  enough  for  two  men. 

227 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

His  individuality  was  quite  as  strong,  his  spirit 
of  independence  quite  as  vigorous,  and  his  stub 
bornness  as  well  developed  as  that  of  Jefferson 
himself. 

Adams  offered  Jefferson  an  opportunity  to  visit 
Paris  again  in  a  diplomatic  capacity,  but  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  accept  without  resigning 
the  Vice-Presidency.  Jefferson  recommended  the 
appointment  of  Madison,  his  beloved  disciple,  but 
the  President  selected  Marshall  instead  without 
consulting  him  and  without  reference  to  his  un 
friendly  disposition.  Jefferson  considered  Mar 
shall  an  ingrate  and  a  deserter  from  the  little 
circle  of  his  satellites,  and  took  occasion  to  pub 
licly  criticise  the  manner  in  which  his  mission 
to  France  was  managed.  When  Marshall  returned 
to  New  York  the  leaders  of  the  Federalist  party 
gave  him  an  ovation,  and  the  members  of  both 
houses  of  Congress  tendered  him  a  public  dinner. 
On  this  occasion  the  phrase  that  became  so  familiar 
afterwards,  "  Millions  for  Defense,  but  not  one 
cent  for  Tribute,"  was  one  of  the  sentiments  in 
the  list  of  toasts,  being  an  allusion  to  the  attempt 
of  Talleyrand  to  extort  blackmail  from  the  Ameri 
can  envoys. 

Jefferson  wrote  a  spiteful  letter  about  Marshall 
which  made  the  latter  angry,  and  he  went  home 
to  Virginia  and  ran  for  Congress  against  the  oppo 
sition  of  Jefferson,  who  called  him  a  "  monarch 
ist"  and  "  an  unprincipled  and  impudent  Federal 
bulldog." 

Towards  the  end  of  the  Adams  administration 
Marshall  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State,  and 
while  occupying  that  office,  a  few  weeks  before 
the  inauguration  of  Jefferson,  was  nominated 
Chief-Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Jefferson 
considered  this  an  invasion  of  his  rights  and  pre- 
228 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

rogatives.  He  held  that  President  Adams  should 
not  have  filled  so  important  an  office  just  before 
the  expiration  of  his  term,  but  should  have  left 
the  vacancy  to  be  filled  by  his  successor.  But 
Adams  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  put  a  friend 
in  office,  and  Judge  Marshall  had  been  his  strongest 
supporter.  Jefferson  particularly  resented  the  ap 
pointment  of  Marshall  because  he  was  not  only 
a  political  but  a  personal  enemy.  No  one  in  public 
life  at  that  time  was  more  obnoxious  to  him,  not 
even  Hamilton. 

During  the  eight  years  which  followed  the  Presi 
dent  and  the  Chief-Justice  were  continually  at  war. 
Jefferson  was  opposed  to  a  permanent  judiciary; 
he  wanted  to  amend  the  Constitution  by  changing 
the  life- tenure  of  judges  to  terms  of  four  or  six 
years  and  subject  them  to  removal  by  the  President 
like  all  other  officials  of  the  government,  on  the 
theory  that  life  offices  were  contrary  to  the  spirit 
of  republican  institutions.  Commenting  freely 
upon  this  subject,  he  indulged  in  personal  criti 
cisms  of  the  court  and  Judge  Marshall's  interpre 
tation  of  the  Constitution,  which  were  not  at  all 
in  accordance  with  his  views. 

Naturally  Judge  Marshall  did  not  relish  these 
criticisms  from  the  President,  but  from  his  lofty 
position  upon  the  bench  he  could  afford  to  forget 
personal  animosities,  and  did  not  permit  his  inter 
pretation  of  the  Constitution  to  be  influenced  by 
such  considerations;  but  he  never  lost  an  oppor 
tunity  to  make  Jefferson  unhappy,  and  the  trial 
of  Aaron  Burr  afforded  him  an  opportunity  to 
torment  the  President. 

Burr  was  one  of  Jefferson's  ablest  and  most 
efficient  aides  in  the  organization  of  the  Democratic 
party.  His  brilliant  attainments  and  captivating 
personality  made  him  a  power,  while  his  natural 

229 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

inclination  for  intrigue  tempted  him  to  methods 
which  his  chief  would  not  have  approved  in  pub 
lic,  but  did  not  hesitate  to  use  to  his  own  advan 
tage.  His  knowledge  of  Burr's  immorality  and 
tricky  disposition  awakened  distrust  and  led  him 
into  duplicity,  which,  however,  would  have  been 
natural  to  any  politician.  In  their  correspondence 
Jefferson  was  apparently  frank  and  friendly,  but 
to  others  he  refers  to  Burr  with  "  habitual  cau 
tion"  and  frequently  questions  his  integrity.  In 
writing  Madison,  to  whom  he  always  spoke  with 
the  freedom  of  confidence,  he  frequently  revealed 
his  suspicions.  Similar  reflections  upon  Burr's 
honesty  appeared  in  a  letter  to  Senator  Brecken- 
ridge,  of  Kentucky,  which,  when  published,  Jeffer 
son  was  compelled  to  repudiate,  although  it  was 
undoubtedly  genuine.  In  his  diary,  which  was 
naturally  his  closest  confidant,  he  writes: 

"  I  hav  never  seen  Colo  Burr  till  he  becm.  a 
member  of  the  Senate.  His  condt  very  soon  in- 
spird  me  with  distrust.  I  habitually  cautd  Mr. 
Madison  against  trusting  him  too  much.  I  saw 
that  under  genl  W  and  Mr.  Adams,  whener  a 
great  military  apt  or  a  diplomatic  one  was  to 
be  made  he  came  post  to  Phila  to  show  himself, 
&  in  fact  he  was  always  in  the  market  if  they 
wanted  him.  He  was  indeed  told  by  Dayton  in 
1800  that  he  might  be  Sec  at  war,  but  this  bid 
was  too  late.  His  election  as  V.P.  was  then  fore 
seen.  With  these  impressions  of  Colo  Burr  there 
never  has  been  any  intimacy  between  us  and  but 
little  association." 

"  Against  Burr  personally  I  never  had  one  hos 
tile  sentiment,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend.  "  I  have  never 
thought  him  an  honest,  fair  dealing  man,  but  con 
sidered  him  as  a  crooked  gun  or  other  perverted 
machine  whose  aim  or  shot  you  could  never  be 

230 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

sure  of,  still  while  he  possessed  the  confidence  of 
the  nation,  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  respect  in 
him  their  confidence  and  to  treat  him  as  if  he  de 
served  it" 

During-  the  heated  controversy  over  the  Presi 
dency  in  1 800,  when  there  was  a  tie  in  the  electoral 
vote  for  Burr  and  himself,  he  had  reason  to  sus 
pect  his  opponent's  loyalty,  and  was  fully  aware 
of  Burr's  attempt  to  use  corrupt  influences  to 
secure  his  own  election.  Nevertheless,  at  the  close 
of  the  contest  Jefferson  commended  him  in  the 
most  cordial  terms  as  a  man  of  honor  and  integ 
rity,  a  course  probably  explained  by  the  last  sen 
tence  of  the  letter  just  quoted.  One  looks  in  vain 
through  Jefferson's  writings  for  a  condemnation 
of  the  murder  of  Alexander  Hamilton  or  even  a 
regret,  although  previous  to  that  tragedy  and  often 
afterwards  he  expressed  his  horror  of  duelling. 

At  the  close  of  his  term  as  Vice-President 
Colonel  Burr  twice  applied  for  an  appointment  to 
some  prominent  office,  "  some  mark  of  favor  from 
me,"  Jefferson  says  in  his  diary,  "  that  would  de 
clare  to  the  world  that  he  retired  from  the  vice 
presidency  with  my  confidence,"  but  his  request 
was  denied  "  in  many  words  but  with  the  usual 
courtesies."  In  the  daily  journal  of  the  Presi 
dent  these  two  interviews  are  reported  in  great 
detail,  and  with  caustic  comments.  Whereupon 
Colonel  Burr  joined  the  enemies  of  the  President 
and  attempted  to  prevent  his  reelection.  "  I  was 
advised  from  day  to  day,"  Jefferson  says,  "  of  the 
progress  of  their  alliance  by  Gideon  Granger,  who 
had  opportunities  for  searching  into  their  pro 
ceedings." 

The  apparent  indifference  of  President  Jefferson 
to  the  Burr  conspiracy,  when  all  the  rest  of  the 
country  was  alarmed  and  excited,  has  never  been 

231 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

explained,  and  probably  never  will  be.  He  made 
light  of  it  in  his  message  to  Congress  and  in  his 
private  correspondence,  although  his  diary  shows 
that  it  was  the  subject  of  serious  consideration 
in  the  Cabinet  and  that  early  steps  were  taken 
to  have  Burr  followed  and  watched.  Jefferson 
compared  Burr  to  Don  Quixote,  but  when  the 
crisis  came  the  President  discovered  to  his  cha 
grin  and  alarm  that  his  bitterest  enemies  were  to 
be  the  chief  actors  in  the  great  historic  drama 
enacted  in  the  courts  at  Richmond.  The  relentless 
Randolph  of  Roanoke  was  foreman  of  the  Grand 
Jury,  and  nobody  hated  Jefferson  more  than  he; 
John  Marshall,  who  was  even  more  formidable 
as  an  enemy,  although  not  so  vicious  and  vindic 
tive,  was  the  presiding  judge,  and  Jefferson  had 
reason  to  believe  that  they  intended  to  force  him 
into  the  attitude  of  an  attorney  for  the  defence. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  the  President  had 
sympathy  with  or  knowledge  of  Burr's  plans,  but 
he  had  unconsciously  promoted  them  by  the  as 
signment  of  General  Wilkinson,  the  general-in- 
chief  of  the  army,  and  Burr's  most  intimate  friend, 
to  the  governorship  of  the  new  Louisiana  Terri 
tory  in  defiance  of  his  own  well  known  opposition 
to  the  union  of  civil  and  military  authority.  What 
possessed  him  to  select  a  soldier  for  the  ruler  of 
the  new  Territory  can  only  be  conjectured,  and 
one  cannot  easily  understand  why  his  abhorrence 
of  nepotism  did  not  prevent  him  from  appointing 
Burr's  brother-in-law  as  secretary  of  the  new  gov 
ernment  and  his  step-son  to  be  judge  of  the  prin 
cipal  court  at  New  Orleans.  Marshall  and  Ran 
dolph  were  thus  easily  able  to  connect  Jefferson's 
appointees  with  Burr,  and  there  is  little  doubt 
of  their  desire  to  entrap  the  President  himself 
in  the  conspiracy,  just  as  the  then  Secretary  of  the 

232 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

Treasury  endeavored  to  involve  President  Grant 
in  the  frauds  of  the  Whiskey  Ring  in  1876.  Upon 
the  application  of  John  Randolph,  Justice  Marshall 
issued  a  subpoena  requiring  the  attendance  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  as  a  witness  for 
the  prosecution,  and  they  proposed  by  cross-exam 
ination  to  extort  from  him  admissions  that  would 
cause  his  political  ruin.  Jefferson  refused  to  obey 
the  summons,  shielding  himself  behind  his  pre 
rogative  as  President,  and  holding  that  the  Con 
stitution  made  the  three  coordinate  branches  of 
the  government  independent  of  each  other.  A 
careful  study  of  the  incidents  and  circumstances 
connected  with  the  case  does  not  increase  one's 
respect  either  for  Jefferson,  Randolph,  or  for  Mar 
shall,  but  politics  were  very  bitter  and  politicians 
had  very  bad  manners  in  those  days. 

Within  a  few  years  an  examination  of  the  ar 
chives  of  the  Foreign  Offices  of  London,  Madrid, 
and  Paris  has  disclosed  unpublished  correspond 
ence  with  their  representatives  in  Washington 
during  the  Jefferson  administration  which  throws 
a  great  deal  of  light  upon  the  Burr  conspiracy 
and  leaves  no  doubt  of  his  treason.  It  also 
shows  that  the  diplomatic  agents  of  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  Spain,  while  enjoying  the  hospitality 
of  this  government,  did  not  hesitate  to  encourage 
a  conspiracy  among  our  own  people  for  the  de 
struction  of  the  Union.  As  early  as  1804,  within 
a  month  after  his  duel  with  Hamilton,  and  while 
he  was  still  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
Burr  disclosed  his  scheme  to  Merry,  the  British 
minister,  and  the  latter  submitted  it  in  detail  to 
his  government  with  a  proposal  from  the  Vice- 
President  that  Great  Britain  should  employ  him 
to  effect  a  separation  between  her  former  colonies 
and  the  Louisiana  Territory  recently  purchased 

233 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

from  France.  Merry  sent  Colonel  Williamson,  an 
officer  of  the  British  army,  to  London  to  lay  the 
details  before  the  ministry,  which  was  expected 
to  provide  half  a  million  dollars  in  money  towards 
Burr's  expenses  and  to  send  a  fleet  to  the  Missis 
sippi  to  cooperate  with  his  land  forces. 

The  British  ministry  at  first  was  inclined  to 
entertain  the  proposal,  but,  having  more  important 
business  on  hand,  postponed  its  consideration  from 
time  to  time,  until  after  a  year  of  waiting  Burr 
tried  to  quicken  the  interest  of  England  by  enter 
ing  into  negotiations  with  the  French  and  Spanish 
governments,  with  which  England  was  then  at 
war.  Merry  commends  Burr  as  possessing,  "  in 
a  much  greater  degree  than  any  other  individual 
in  this  country,  all  the  talents,  energy,  intrepidity 
and  firmness  required  for  such  an  enterprise,"  but 
intimated  a  doubt  as  to  whether  "  strict  confidence" 
could  be  placed  in  him. 

Having  lost  his  patience  with  the  British,  Burr 
opened  negotiations  with  the  Spaniards  through 
ex-Senator  Dayton,  of  New  Jersey.  Yrujo,  the 
Spanish  minister,  advanced  Dayton  several  thou 
sand  dollars  and  forwarded  Burr's  plans  to  Ma 
drid  with  a  favorable  endorsement,  but  his  govern 
ment  was  not  enticed  into  the  plot  to  recover  the 
territory  it  had  traded  away,  and  gave  Yrujo  no 
encouragement.  Nor  did  it  furnish  him  any  more 
funds  for  Burr's  benefit.  The  latter  then  appealed 
to  General  Turreau,  the  French  minister,  who  at 
that  time  was  endeavoring  to  secure  a  recognition 
of  the  political  rights  of  the  French  residents  in 
Louisiana.  Burr,  being  aware  of  thetr  discontent, 
endeavored  to  enlist  them  in  his  cause  through 
the  French  minister,  but  the  latter  does  not  seem 
to  have  gone  any  farther  than  to  keep  Talleyrand 
fully  posted  as  to  his  movements  and  intentions. 

234 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

It  was  also  disclosed  that  Wilkinson,  the  general 
of  the  army,  with  whom  Burr  had  confidential 
relations,  and  who  was  shielded  by  Jefferson  to 
the  best  of  his  ability,  had  been  drawing  a  salary 
of  two  thousand  dollars  a  year  from  the  Spanish 
government  for  several  years  as  compensation  for 
secret  information  furnished  the  agents  of  the  king 
concerning  the  military  condition  and  plans  of  the 
United  States. 

Jefferson's  habitual  inconsistency  is  shown  in 
his  references  to  Andrew  Jackson.  In  1823  he 
wrote  Andrew  Jackson :  "I  recall  with  pleasure 
the  remembrance  of  our  joint  labor  while  in  Sen 
ate  together  in  times  of  great  trial  and  hard  bat 
tling.  Battles,  indeed,  of  words,  not  of  blood,  as 
those  you  have  since  fought  so  much  for  your 
own  glory  and  that  of  your  country." 

Then  he  said  to  Daniel  Webster :  "  I  feel  very 
much  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  seeing  General 
Jackson  President.  He  is  one  of  the  most  unfit 
men  I  know  of  for  such  a  place.  He  has  very 
little  respect  for  the  laws  and  constitution,  and  is, 
in  fact,  an  able  military  chief.  His  passions  are 
terrible.  When  I  was  President  of  the  Senate 
he  was  a  Senator,  and  he  could  never  speak  on 
account  of  the  rashness  of  his  feelings.  I  have 
seen  him  attempt  it  repeatedly,  and  as  often  choke 
with  rage.  His  passions  are  no  doubt  cooler  now ; 
he  has  been  much  tried  since  I  knew  him,  but  he 
is  a  dangerous  man." 

The  intimacy  between  Jefferson  and  John  Adams 
extended  over  half  a  century,  beginning  at  Phila 
delphia,  where  they  met  as  colleagues  in  the  Conti 
nental  Congress,  and  ending  only  when  the  Angel 
of  Death  called  them  both  on  the  same  day,  July 
4,  1826,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  adoption 
of  their  joint  composition,  the  Declaration  of  In- 

235 


THE  TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

dependence.  Their  correspondence  would  fill  a 
large  volume.  They  wrote  long  essays  at  each 
other  upon  topics  of  every  sort,  exchanging  views 
and  criticisms  of  men  and  affairs,  both  foreign 
and  domestic,  in  a  solemn,  monotonous  manner; 
and  while  they  seldom  agreed  upon  the  details  of 
any  proposition,  it  was  evident  that  each  was  fully 
convinced  of  his  own  wisdom  and  rectitude.  They 
were  born  in  different  atmospheres,  educated  in 
different  schools,  and  were  accustomed  to  different 
codes  of  morals  and  different  modes  of  thought. 
What  would  have  been  political  food  to  one  was 
political  poison  to  the  other.  They  were  as  far 
apart  by  birth  and  training  as  any  two  men  in 
the  thirteen  colonies,  and  had  little  in  common 
except  their  egotism  and  verbosity. 

There  were  intervals  in  their  friendship, — in 
tervals  of  doubt,  distrust,  and  resentment, — but  the 
attraction  was  too  great,  and  the  positive  and  nega 
tive  poles  sooner  or  later  must  resume  the  current 
of  communication.  While  they  were  in  Europe 
as  plenipotentiaries  Jefferson  and  the  Adamses  ex 
changed  visits  between  London  and  Paris,  and  Mrs. 
Adams  chats  about  him  in  her  home  letters  with 
a  grateful  appreciation  of  his  talents  and  worth. 
She  says,  "  He  is  one  of  the  choice  ones  of  the 
earth,"  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  her  friend 
ship  for  him  never  faltered  even  when  he  and 
Adams  were  at  odds,  and  it  was  her  tact  that  re 
stored  their  relations  after  the  most  serious  quarrel 
of  their  lives. 

Jefferson  once  expressed  the  opinion  that  "  Mr. 
Adams  was  honest  as  a  politician  as  well  as  a  man ; 
Hamilton  was  honest  as  a  man,  but  as  a  politician 
he  believed  in  the  necessity  of  either  force  or  cor 
ruption  to  govern  man."  Hamilton  held  that 
Julius  Caesar  was  the  greatest  man  that  ever  lived  ; 

236 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

Jefferson  replied  that  Bacon,  Newton,  and  Locke 
in  his  opinion  were  greater,  and  Adams  agreed 
with  him. 

In  the  days  when  Jefferson  was  Secretary  of 
State  it  was  customary  for  public  men  to  write 
for  the  newspapers  over  assumed  names.  Hamil 
ton's  contributions  to  the  Federalist,  like  those  of 
John  Adams,  originally  appeared  over  a  fictitious 
signature.  Adams,  while  Vice-President,  wrote 
a  series  of  political  discourses  signed  "  Davila." 
These  were  attacked  by  Thomas  Paine  in  his 
"  Rights  of  Man,"  originally  published  in  Eng 
land.  A  copy  was  sent  to  Jefferson,  with  the  re 
quest  that,  after  reading  it,  he  would  hand  it  to 
some  printer,  so  that  it  might  be  republished  for 
circulation  in  the  United  States.  This  he  did  with 
a  note  commending  the  author  and  his  writings, 
which  was  intended  to  be  confidential,  but  it  was 
published  as  an  introduction  to  the  volume  and 
brought  down  upon  him  the  universal  condemna 
tion  of  the  religious  people  of  the  country  as  well 
as  the  Federalists.  Among  his  critics  was  an 
anonymous  writer  who  signed  himself  "  Publi- 
cola."  Jefferson  wrote  Adams  to  explain  the 
blunder  by  which  his  endorsement  of  the  "  Rights 
of  Man"  was  published,  and  spoke  with  bitter  con 
tempt  of  "  Publicola"  as  a  mischief-maker.  Un 
fortunately,  "  Publicola"  was  no  other  than  John 
Quincy  Adams,  a  son  of  the  Vice-President,  whose 
family  felt  great  pride  in  his  controversial  abili 
ties,  so  that  Jefferson's  second  letter  on  the  subject 
was  worse  than  the  first,  and  caused  a  temporary 
suspension  of  their  relations. 

Adams  understood  Jefferson  as  Jefferson  under 
stood  him,  and  in  1797,  when  they  came  to  Phila 
delphia  as  President  and  Vice-President  elect,  the 
shrewd  old  Yankee  promptly  and  carefully  ex- 

237 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

terminated  all  germs  of  hope  that  Jefferson  might 
have  nourished  about  sharing  the  honors  and  re 
sponsibilities  of  the  government.  As  Adams  must 
have  suspected,  the  latter  had  made  plans  in  that 
direction  before  he  left  Monticello,  and  attempted 
to  win  the  confidence  of  the  new  President  by 
playing  upon  his  jealous  and  suspicious  egotism.' 
In  a  letter  worthy  of  Mephisto  himself  he  intimated 
to  Adams  that  "  your  arch  friend  in  New  York," 
meaning  Hamilton,  "  intends  mischief."  Adams 
made  no  reply.  He  was  too  old  a  bird  to  be 
caught  in  that  kind  of  a  trap.  Jefferson  called 
upon  him  immediately  upon  his  arrival  in  Phila 
delphia.  Adams  returned  the  visit  the  next  day, 
and  expressed  his  gratification  at  finding  the  Vice- 
President  alone,  as  he  desired  a  "  free  conversa 
tion"  with  him,  of  which  we  have  Jefferson's  ver 
sion.  Suspicious  of  each  other,  the  two  shrewd 
politicians  sparred  for  awhile,  and  then  the  Presi 
dent  tempted  his  colleague  with  an  offer  to  return 
to  his  former  diplomatic  post  at  Paris.  We  can 
only  infer  his  desire  to  banish  so  active  and  dan 
gerous  a  rival  from  the  country;  but  Jefferson 
showed  no  inclination  to  go  into  exile,  and  they 
exchanged  regrets  that  circumstances  should  pro 
hibit  the  country  from  enjoying  the  benefits  of 
Jefferson's  diplomacy.  As  he  could  not  realize 
what  he  said  was  "  the  first  wish  of  his  heart" 
(which  was  to  get  rid  of  Jefferson),  the  President 
suggested  that  Madison  and  Gerry, — the  most  use 
ful  and  important  lieutenants  of  Jefferson, — ought 
to  be  sent  as  commissioners,  to  which  the  latter 
promptly  assented. 

What  occurred  in  the  meantime  has  never  been 
explained,  but  three  days  later,  while  walking  home 
from  a  dinner  at  General  Washington's,  the  Presi 
dent-elect  explained,  "with  excuses  which  evidently 

238 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

embarrassed  him,"  that  "  objections  which  he  had 
not  contemplated  had  been  raised/'  and  that  it 
would  be  inexpedient  to  nominate  Jefferson's 
friends.  "  He  never  after  that  said  one  word 
to  me  on  the  subject,"  writes  the  Vice-President, 
"or  ever  again  consulted  me  as  to  any  measure 
of  the  government." 

Just  before  the  expiration  of  the  Seventh  Con 
gress  in  1 80 1  an  act  was  passed  creating  a  number 
of  new  district  and  circuit  courts.  Adams,  an 
ticipating  the  opportunity,  selected  the  judges  .from 
among  his  friends  and  political  supporters,  and  had 
their  commissions  prepared  before  he  approved  the 
law.  It  was  then  the  practice  for  Congress  to 
adjourn  at  midnight  on  the  third  instead  of  at 
noon  on  the  fourth  of  March  as  at  present,  and 
the  official  authority  of  the  President  expired  at 
the  same  moment.  Jefferson,  being  aware  of  the 
greed  of  Adams  for  patronage,  and  of  his  intention 
to  appoint  the  judges,  gave  his  watch  to  Levi 
Lincoln,  who  had  been  selected  for  his  Cabinet, 
and  told  him  to  take  possession  of  the  office  of  the 
Secretary  of  State  as  the  hands  pointed  to  mid 
night.  Obeying  instructions,  Lincoln  interrupted 
Chief-Justice  Marshall,  who  had  been  Secretary 
of  State,  in  the  act  of  attesting  the  commissions 
of  the  new  judges  with  the  great  seal  of  state. 
A  few  had  been  completed,  but  the  greater  part 
lacked  the  seal.  Lincoln  entered  Judge  Marshall's 
office  without  warning  and  said, — 

"  I  have  been  ordered  by  President  Jefferson 
to  take  possession  of  this  department  and  its 
papers." 

"  Mr.  Jefferson  has  not  yet  qualified  as  Presi 
dent,"  exclaimed  the  astonished  Chief- Justice. 

"  Nevertheless,  he  considers  himself  an  executor 
or  trustee,  and  instructs  me  to  take  charge  of  the 

239 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

archives  of  this  department  until  he  is  duly  quali 
fied." 

"  But  it  is  not  yet  twelve  o'clock,"  said  Judge 
Marshall,  taking  out  his  watch. 

"  This  is  the  President's  watch  and  rules  the 
hour,"  said  Lincoln 

Judge  Marshall  carried  away  with  him  the  com 
missions  that  were  completed,  and  the  men  who 
received  them  were  afterwards  known  as  "  Adams's 
midnight  judges." 

Adams  was  mortified  because  he  was  not  allowed 
a  second  term  in  the  Presidency,  like  Washington, 
and  attributed  his  rejection  to  the  intrigues  of 
Jefferson,  rather  than  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  the 
country  with  his  administration  and  his  own  blun 
ders.  So  great  was  his  disappointment  that  he 
refused  to  remain  in  Washington  for  the  inaugu 
ration  of  his  successor,  but  left  the  White  House 
in  a  carriage  for  Baltimore  not  long  after  the  en 
counter  between  Levi  Lincoln  and  John  Marshall. 
Jefferson  construed  Adams's  undignified  departure 
as  a  childish  attempt  to  humiliate  him,  and  con 
sidered  the  appointment  of  the  "  midnight  judges" 
an  infringement  of  his  prerogatives  and  an  in 
vasion  of  his  authority  as  President,  and  for  sev 
eral  years  he  and  Adams  were  bitterly  hostile, 
although  he  continued  to  correspond  with  Mrs. 
Adams  in  the  most  friendly  manner.  On  the  other 
hand  Adams  was  offended  with  Jefferson  because 
of  the  removal  of  his  son.  John  Quincy,  from  one 
of  the  federal  offices  in  Boston.  Jefferson  after 
wards  explained  that  he  would  not  have  removed 
the  son  had  he  known  of  the  relationship.  A  recon 
ciliation  was  brought  about  by  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush, 
for  which  Jefferson  was  prepared  by  a  sympathetic 
letter  from  Mrs.  Adams  after  the  death  of  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Eppes. 

240 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

The  letter  of  Dr.  Rush  to  Adams  urging  the 
reconciliation  is  one  of  the  most  eloquent  appeals 
that  can  be  imagined.  He  says :  "  Fellow  laborers 
in  erecting  the  fabric  of  American  liberty  and  in 
dependence;  fellow  sufferers  in  the  calumnies  and 
falsehoods  of  party  rage ;  fellow  heirs  of  the  grati 
tude  and  affection  of  posterity;  and  fellow  pas 
sengers  in  the  same  stage  which  must  soon  convey 
you  both  into  the  presence  of  the  Judge  with  whom 
forgiveness  and  the  love  of  your  enemies  is  the 
condition  of  his  acceptance,  embrace,  embrace  each 
other, — bedew  your  letters  of  reconciliation  with 
tears  of  affection  and  joy." 

Jefferson  and  Adams  resumed  their  correspond 
ence  and  friendly  relations,  and  they  lasted  until 
their  death,  which  occurred  on  the  same  day.  Some 
of  Jefferson's  partisans  refused  to  ratify  the  recon 
ciliation,  and  when  one  of  his  most  ardent  wor 
shippers  was  informed  that  Adams  died  almost 
at  the  same  hour  as  Jefferson,  he  exclaimed  in  a 
passion  that  "  it  was  a  damned  Yankee  trick." 

Jefferson  undoubtedly  had  a  sincere  and  honest 
respect  for  Washington.  He  once  remarked  that 
"  Washington  errs  as  other  men  do,  but  errs  with 
integrity."  But  the  passion  and  the  impatience 
of  a  partisan,  because  of  Washington's  friendship 
with  his  political  enemies,  led  him  to  say  privately 
to  friends  what  he  would  not  have  uttered  publicly. 
He  evidently  underestimated  Washington's  intel 
lectual  ability,  and  continually  imposed  upon  his 
good-nature.  The  President's  patience  and  forbear 
ance  were  extraordinary.  He  must  have  had  pro 
found  confidence  in  Jefferson's  integrity  and  ability 
to  have  tolerated  him  so  long.  There  is  no  similar 
instance  in  the  history  of  the  government.  Lin 
coln's  patience  was  sorely  tried  at  times  by  the 
members  of  his  official  family  and  Cabinet  feuds 
16  241 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

have  been  frequent,  but  no  other  President  has 
ever  endured  with  such  saintly  toleration  trials 
equal  to  those  which  Jefferson  imposed  upon 
Washington. 

Jefferson  is  usually  conceded  to  be  the  shrewdest 
politician  this  country  has  ever  produced,  and  he 
resorted  to  measures  which  would  not  be  tolerated 
by  this  generation.  His  personal  correspondence 
and  the  confidential  diary  which  he  kept  under  the 
title  of  "  Anas"  prove  that  he  used  underhand 
methods  and  was  commonly  engaged  in  intrigue 
not  only  against  his  colleagues  in  the  Cabinet,  but 
even  against  Washington,  whose  loyalty  and  con 
fidence  in  him  were  complete.  He  has  been  accused 
of  "  shielding  himself  like  a  coward  behind  a  clerk 
in  his  department  who  was  allowed  to  publicly 
assail  the  character  as  well  as  the  conduct  <of 
Washington/'  but  it  really  required  more  courage 
for  Jefferson  to  sustain  Freneau  under  the  cir 
cumstances  than  to  discharge  him.  Furthermore, 
he  freely  accused  his  official  associates  of  treason. 
He  openly  charged  Hamilton  with  conspiracy  to 
overthrow  the  republic  and  set  up  a  monarchy. 
He  declared  that  Hamilton's  influence  in  Congress 
was  obtained  by  bribery  and  corruption  by  the  use 
of  government  funds  and  bonds.  No  other  Presi 
dent  in  the  long  list  of  American  rulers  would  have 
submitted  to  such  audacity,  for  Jefferson  was  any 
thing  but  a  coward.  But  Washington  confided  in 
his  loyalty  and  admired  his  ability,  and  his  per 
sonal  affection  was  never  impaired,  although  their 
relations  were  those  of  the  merest  courtesy  after 
Jefferson's  retirement  from  the  Cabinet. 

An  adventurer  named  Freneau,  a  man  of  eccen 
tric  experience,  a  poet,  a  sea-captain,  and  the  editor 
of  a  local  paper,  was  appointed  by  Jefferson  a 
translator  in  the  Department  of  State  at  a  salary 

242 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  year  upon 
the  recommendation  of  Madison,  who  had  been 
his  classmate  at  Princeton  College.  The  appoint 
ment  was  made  with  the  understanding  that  Fre- 
neau's  paper  was  to  become  the  organ  of  the  Re 
publican  party,  and  writing  Madison,  Jefferson  says 
that  he  intended  to  give  him  "  the  perusal  of  all 
my  letters  of  foreign  intelligence  and  all  the  for 
eign  newspapers,  the  publication  of  all  proclama 
tions  and  other  public  notices  that  are  in  my  de 
partment,  and  the  printing  of  the  laws  which,  added 
to  his  salary,  would  have  been  considerable  aid." 

Freneau  appears  to  have  known  what  was  ex 
pected  of  him,  for  his  paper  immediately  began 
a  series  of  most  vigorous  and  vicious  assaults 
upon  the  administration.  His  scurrilous  abuse 
'  of  Hamilton  and  disrespectful  references  to  Wash 
ington  as  a  man,  as  well  as  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  created  profound  indignation  among 
all  fair-minded  people,  but  Jefferson  stubbornly 
refused  to  rebuke  Freneau  or  remove  him  from 
office.  Finally  the  quarrel  with  Hamilton  reached 
a  crisis.  Hoping  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation, 
Washington  appealed  to  each  of  them  in  an  affec 
tionate  personal  letter.  Hamilton  answered  in  a 
dignified  and  courteous  manner  and  a  conciliatory 
disposition,  but  with  much  feeling.  Jefferson's 
reply  was  insulting  and  inexcusable.  He  defended 
his  own  conduct  and  charged  Hamilton  with  cor 
ruption,  conspiracy,  and  treason,  with  intentions 
to  overthrow  the  government  and  establish  a  mon 
archy,  with  corrupting  Congress  by  the  use  of 
the  public  funds,  with  dealing  out  valuable  Treas 
ury  secrets  among  his  friends,  and  with  appointing 
the  relatives  and  friends  of  Senators,  Representa 
tives,  and  newspaper  editors  in  order  to  secure 
their  favor  and  support.  Such  a  letter,  written 

243 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

by  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  to  the  President  con 
cerning  one  of  his  colleagues,  would  be  impossible 
at  this  day,  and  it  shows  the  depth  of  Jefferson's 
malice  and  meanness;  yet  Washington,  out  of 
respect  for  Jefferson's  abilities  and  patriotism,  over 
looked  the  insult  and  allowed  him  to  remain  in 
the  Cabinet.  Jefferson  rewarded  him  by  permit 
ting  Freneau  to  continue  his  insults  and  indignities 
upon  Washington's  character  and  motives,  to  ac 
cuse  him  of  debauching  the  country,  with  seeking 
a  crown,  and  with  "  passing  himself  off  as  an  honest 
man."  Washington  told  Jefferson  one  day,  and 
Jefferson  notes  the  fact  in  his  diary,  that  he  could 
see  in  Freneau's  conduct  "  nothing  but  an  im 
pudent  design  to  insult  him."  There  is  another 
entry  in  Jefferson's  journal  which  reads :  "  He 
[Washington]  adverted  to  a  piece  in  Freneau's 
paper  of  yesterday.  He  was  evidently  sore  and 
warm,  and  I  took  his  intention  to  be  that  I  should 
interpose  in  some  way  with  Freneau,  perhaps  with 
draw  his  appointment  of  translating  clerk  to  my 
office.  But  I  will  not  do  it." 

Jefferson's  own  lips  and  pen  furnish  the  evi 
dence  to  convict  him  of  these  atrocious  attacks 
upon  his  'friend  and  benefactor,  President  Wash 
ington,  but  it  is  a  question  of  veracity  between  his 
creature,  Freneau,  and  himself  as  to  which  actually 
penned  the  insults  to  the  President.  While  Jeffer 
son  was  still  in  the  Cabinet,  Freneau  went  before 
the  Mayor  of  Philadelphia  and  took  an  oath  that 
the  Secretary  of  State  was  not  responsible  either 
directly  or  indirectly  for  the  contemptible  articles 
that  had  been  published  concerning  the  President, 
but  later  in  life  confessed  that  he  made  this  affi 
davit  to  protect  his  employer  and  patron,  that  Jef 
ferson  either  wrote  or  dictated  many  of  them, 
and  furnished  a  file  of  his  paper  with  the  articles 

244 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

marked  which  Jefferson  had  written.  A  careful 
comparison  of  these  articles  with  other  productions 
of  Jefferson's  pen  show  the  unmistakable  similarity 
in  literary  style  and  forms  of  expression,  but  these 
disclosures  did  not  seem  to  have  affected  public 
opinion  concerning  the  morals  or  the  manners  of 
Jefferson.  The  Federalist  made  the  most  of  them, 
and  the  Republicans  defended  Jefferson  with  en 
ergy  and  loyalty. 

While  the  Jay  treaty  with  Great  Britain  was 
under  debate  in  the  Senate  Jefferson  wrote  a  letter 
to  an  Italian  friend  named  Mazzei  who  occupied  an 
adjoining  plantation  in  Virginia,  but  who  at  that 
moment  was  in  Europe  attempting  to  negotiate 
a  loan  for  the  United  States  with  a  petty  prince 
of  Hungary.  This  letter  mainly  related  to  private 
affairs,  but  concluded  with  a  review  of  the  politi 
cal  situation,  and  charged  Washington,  the  Senate, 
and  the  Supreme  Court  with  aristocratic  and  mon 
archical  tendencies,  and  with  betraying  their  coun 
try  under  British  inducements.  It  was  intemperate, 
partisan,  unjust,  and  untrue,  but,  like  other  letters 
which  gave  him  so  much  trouble  to  explain,  was 
intended  to  be  confidential.  In  some  way,  how 
ever,  it  was  published  in  an  Italian  paper,  repro 
duced  in  France,  and  translated  from  the  French 
for  the  New  York  press,  where  it  was  denounced 
as  treasonable,  and  Jefferson  was  called  upon  to 
admit  the  authorship  or  repudiate  it. 

It  was  one  of  the  strangest  things  in  his  life 
that  he  held  his  peace  under  the  attack.  Never 
before  had  he  avoided  a  newspaper  controversy, 
but  he  must  have  realized  what  shame  and  con 
tempt  would  follow  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
authorship  and  was  therefore  afraid  to  face  it. 
Later,  however,  he  wrote  Madison  admitting  that 
he  had  written  the  letter,  but  explaining  that  his 

245 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

original  thoughts  had  been  mangled  and  misrepre 
sented  by  the  various  translators  through  whose 
hands  it  had  passed.  At  the  same  time  he  de 
clined  to  avow  the  letter  because  "  it  would  be 
impossible  for  me  to  explain  this  publicly  without 
bringing  on  a  personal  difference  between  General 
Washington  and  myself  which  nothing  before  the 
publication  of  this  letter  has  ever  done.  It  would 
embroil  me  also  with  all  those  with  whom  his 
character  is  still  popular,  that  is  to  say,  nine  tenths 
of  the  people  in  the  United  States."  In  his  old 
age  the  story  was  revived  by  Timothy  Pickering, 
and  Jefferson  again  boldly  denied  the  authorship. 
Washington  always  believed  that  Jefferson  wrote 
the  letter,  and  it  caused  a  breach  between  them  that 
was  never  healed.  From  that  time  they  ceased 
all  correspondence  and  intercourse,  and  in  a  letter 
to  John  Nicholas  he  expressed  his  belief  that  Jef 
ferson  was  insincere  in  his  .friendships. 

That  Jefferson  was  willing  to  subordinate  his 
personal  feelings  to  his  public  duty,  and  that  he 
was  not  entirely  disloyal  to  Washington,  is  illus 
trated  by  the  incident  of  Citizen  Genet,  the  French 
minister,  who  was  the  cause  of  the  most  embar 
rassing  crisis  during  the  Presidency  of  Washing 
ton.  In  1778,  during  the  darkest  days  of  the 
Revolution,  the  United  States  made  a  treaty  of 
alliance  with  France,  without  which  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  colonies  could  have  achieved  their 
independence.  In  1793  France  declared  war 
against  Great  Britain,  and  called  upon  the  United 
States  to  redeem  the  pledges  of  that  treaty.  As 
suming  that  we  would  furnish  the  same  aid  to 
the  French  that  they  had  furnished  to  us  fifteen 
years  before,  Citizen  Genet  began  to  buy  arms, 
enlist  men,  and  fit  out  privateers  in  this  country, 
thus  provoking  a  protest  from  the  British  govern- 

246 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

ment.  The  crisis  became  acute.  The  Cabinet  as 
well  as  the  public  were  divided  in  opinion,  there 
being  a  strong  public  sympathy  for  France.  Ham 
ilton,  Randolph,  General  Knox,  and  other  con 
servative  men  took  the  ground  that  the  treaty  of 
1778  was  made  with  the  King  of  France,  who  was 
our  best  friend  among  all  the  rulers  of  Europe, 
and  not  with  the  bloodthirsty  and  irresponsible 
leaders  of  the  Revolution  who  had  murdered  him 
and  overthrown  his  government.  They  argued 
that  the  French  republic  had  repudiated  all  the 
acts  of  the  monarchy  and  that  the  treaty,  having 
been  executed  with  the  monarchy,  terminated 
when  the  latter  was  overthrown.  The  people  of 
the  United  States  were  under  no  obligation  to 
the  leaders  of  the  French  Revolution,  and  could 
have  no  part  or  lot  with  such  atheists,  anarchists, 
and  assassins.  Furthermore,  their  war  against 
England  was  aggressive  and  unjust.  Jefferson 
and  his  supporters,  who  were  earnest  in  their  sym 
pathy  with  the  Revolution,  held  that  the  treaty  was 
still  in  force,  and  that  a  change  of  government 
from  a  monarchy  to  a  republic  in  France  only 
made  the  moral  obligation  more  binding  upon  the 
United  States. 

Washington  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  Deaf 
to  the  pleadings  of  his  Secretary  of  State  in  be 
half  of  France,  he  instructed  Attorney-General 
Randolph,  who  had  kept  a  cool  head,  to  draw  up 
a  proclamation  of  neutrality,  which  Foster,  in  his 
"  Century  of  American  Diplomacy,"  declares  has 
"  had  a  greater  influence  in  moulding  international 
law  than  any  other  single  document  of  the  last 
hundred  years,  and  has  been  taken  as  a  model 
by  all  other  nations."  It  was  a  simple  announce 
ment  of  the  neutrality  of  the  United  States,  and 
admonished  all  citizens  to  observe  it.  In  private 

247 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

letters  Jefferson  denounced  the  proclamation,  but 
in  his  public  papers  he  declared  that  it  was  based 
upon  correct  principles  of  international  law,  and 
made  a  clear  and  forcible  defence  of  the  attitude 
of  the  administration. 

Jefferson  was  provoked  because  he  was  not 
selected  to  draw  the  neutrality  proclamation,  but 
in  the  long  and  frequent  Cabinet  discussions  he 
had  shown  such  ardent  sympathy  with  the  French 
and  M.  Genet,  their  audacious  representative,  that 
Washington  would  not  trust  him,  and  committed 
the  important  task  to  Edmund  Randolph,  whose 
views  coincided  with  his  own.  Jefferson  in  his 
chagrin  wrote  Madison,  "  I  dare  say  you  will 
have  judged  from  the  pusillanimity  of  the  procla 
mation  from  whose  pen  it  came."  He  continued 
privately  to  defend  and  encourage  Genet  in  his 
mischief,  and  wrote  Madison  again,  "  It  is  im 
possible  for  anything  to  be  more  affectionate,  more 
magnanimous  than  the  purport  of  his  mission.  He 
offers  everything  and  asks  nothing." 

However,  under  the  direction  of  the  President 
Jefferson  was  obliged  to  inform  Genet  that  his 
conduct  was  intolerable.  It  was  a  disagreeable 
duty  reluctantly  performed.  He  wrote  a  plain  and 
manly  note,  which  Genet  ignored  so  contemptu 
ously  that  Jefferson's  indignation  was  aroused,  and 
when  Genet  actually  insulted  Washington  by  de 
claring  publicly  that  he  would  appeal  from  the 
President  to  the  people,  and  would  not  obey  the 
President  until  the  people  had  confirmed  his  action, 
Jefferson  dealt  with  him  in  a  patriotic  and  deter 
mined  manner.  Genet  thereupon  turned  against 
Jefferson,  charging  him  with  duplicity  by  giving 
him  encouragement  in  private  and  censuring  him 
in  public.  Genet  did  not  return  to  France,  but 
remained  in  New  York,  took  out  naturalization 

248 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

papers,  and  married  the  daughter  of  Governor 
De  Witt  Clinton,  afterwards  Vice-President. 

Jefferson's  clerk,  Freneau,  continued  to  attack 
Washington's  motives  in  his  paper,  accusing  him 
of  debauching  the  country  and  scheming  to  be 
king.  This  made  Washington  very  angry,  but 
Jefferson  still  declined  to  dismiss  Freneau,  and 
was  himself  compelled  to  resign  from  the  Cabinet. 
He  was  succeeded  as  Secretary  of  State  by  Ed 
mund  Randolph,  whom  he  had  so  severely  criti 
cised. 

In  May,  1792,  he  had  promised  to  resign  in 
the  following  January,  but  when  January  came, 
much  to  the  disappointment  of  the  President,  he 
reconsidered  his  purpose  and  remained  at  the  head 
of  the  vState  Department  for  the  reason,  as  he  ex 
plained,  that  he  would  not  give  his  enemies  the 
right  to  say  that  they  had  driven  him  out  of  office. 
Washington  offered  him  the  French  mission  in 
February,  but  Jefferson  insisted  upon  retaining 
his  anomalous  relation,  and  did  not  resign  until 
the  following  December.  In  the  meantime  the 
frequent,  bitter  controversies  at  the  Cabinet  meet 
ings  continued,  where,  he  says,  he  and  Hamilton 
"  were  always  pitted  against  each  other  like  two 
game  cocks."  General  Knox,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  always  sided  with  Hamilton.  Randolph, 
the  Attorney-General,  a  Virginian,  was  sometimes 
on  one  side  and  sometimes  on  the  other.  Jefferson, 
with  grim  humor,  said  that  the  Cabinet  stood  two 
and  a  half  to  one  and  a  half, — Hamilton  and  Knox 
on  one  side,  himself  on  the  other,  and  Randolph 
on  both  sides.  "  He  gives  his  principles  to  one 
party  and  his  practice  to  the  other;  the  oyster  to 
one  and  the  shell  to  the  other." 

Jefferson  did  not  object  to  opposition.  "  In 
fact,"  he  said,  "  the  world  runs  by  friction.  Men 

249 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

of  energy,  of  character,  must  always  have  enemies. 
Dr.  Franklin  had  many  enemies,  as  every  char 
acter  must  with  decision  enough  to  have  opinions. 
In  public  life,  a  man  whose  political  principles 
have  any  decided  character,  and  who  has  energy 
enough  to  give  them  effect,  must  always  expect 
to  encounter  political  hostility  from  those  of  ad 
verse  principles." 

While  Secretary  of  State  Jefferson  kept  a  diary 
of  incidents  and  gossip,  which  is  referred  to  else 
where,  setting  down  an  abstract  of  the  transactions 
of  each  Cabinet  meeting  and  reports  concerning 
politics  and  politicians  which  he  had  heard  during 
each  day.  It  is  voluminous,  and  one  wonders  how 
a  man  of  his  many  occupations,  cares,  and  re 
sponsibilities  could  have  devoted  so  much  time 
to  such  apparently  useless  labor.  It  was  no  doubt 
intended  for  future  campaign  purposes,  because  it 
covers  minutely  the  record  of  Hamilton's  actions 
and  conversations,  even -the  most  trivial  gossip. 
After  his  retirement  he  revised  the  manuscript, 
prepared  a  long  and  virtuous  introduction,  and 
left  it  with  his  other  papers,  evidently  expecting 
it  to  be  published.  That  such  a  record,  intended 
to  belittle  his  colleagues  and  grossly  violating  the 
confidence  of  Washington,  as  well  as  the  proprieties 
of  his  own  position,  should  be  made  a  part  of  his 
tory  aroused  indignant  remonstrances.  It  will 
always  be  a  cloud  upon  his  integrity  of  purpose; 
and,  as  is  always  the  case,  his  spitefulness  towards 
them  injured  him  more  than  it  injured  Hamilton 
or  Washington. 

The  authorship  of  that  "  Immortal  Document," 
the  Farewell  Address  of  President  Washington, 
which  is  one  of  the  stateliest  examples  of  English 
composition,  has  been  ascribed  to  Hamilton,  Jef 
ferson,  and  Adams.  General  Washington  was 

250 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

neither  an  orator  nor  a  writer,  although  he  ex 
pressed  himself  with  a  simple  directness  that  is 
often  more  forcible  and  convincing  than  the  most 
florid  eloquence.  According  to  Jefferson,  the  Fare 
well  Address,  delivered  to  Congress  at  Annapolis, 
was  a  composite  of  contributions  from  several 
sources.  In  a  letter  to  Judge  Johnson  of  South 
Carolina  shortly  before  his  death  he  offered  this 
explanation : 

"  With  respect  to  his  [Washington's]  Farewell 
Address,  to  the  authorship  of  which  it  seems  there 
are  conflicting  claims,  I  can  state  you  some  facts. 
He  had  determined  to  decline  a  re-election  at  the 
end  of  his  first  term,  and  so  far  determined  that 
he  requested  Mr.  Madison  to  prepare  for  him  some 
thing  valedictory,  to  be  addressed  to  his  constitu 
ents  on  his  retirement.  This  was  done,  but  he 
was  finally  persuaded  to  acquiesce  in  a  second  elec 
tion,  to  which  no  one  more  strenuously  pressed 
him  than  myself,  from  a  conviction  of  the  impor 
tance  of  strengthening,  by  longer  habit,  the  respect 
necessary  for  that  office,  which  the  weight  of  his 
character  only  could  effect.  When,  at  the  end 
of  his  second  term,  his  Valedictory  came  out,  Mr. 
Madison  recognized  in  it  several  passages  of  his 
draught;  several  others,  we  were  both  satisfied, 
were  from  the  pen  of  Hamilton ;  and  others  from 
that  of  the  President  himself.  These  he  probably 
put  into  the  hands  of  Hamilton  to  form  into  a 
whole,  and  hence  it  may  all  appear  in  Hamilton's 
handwriting,  as  if  it  were  all  of  his  composi- 
tion." 

Jefferson  says  in  one  of  his  letters  that  "  Polite 
ness  seems  to  have  been  invented  to  enable  people 
who  would  naturally  fall  out  to  live  together  in 
peace,"  and  it  was  that  which  kept  Jefferson  and 
Hamilton  on  friendly  terms  with  one  another  for 

251 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

many  months  after  both  discovered  that  they  dif 
fered  on  every  leading  question. 

Jefferson  made  a  bargain  with  Hamilton,  then 
his  friend  and  colleague  in  the  Cabinet,  but  soon 
after  his  bitterest  enemy,  to  locate  the  capital 
of  the  Nation  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac, 
but  it  was  not  long  before  he  regretted  his  part 
in  the  transaction  and  pretended  that  he  had 
been  used  as  a  cat's-paw  by  his  colleague.  The 
Assumption  Bill,  so  called,  providing  that  the  Gen 
eral  Government  should  assume  the  war  debts  of 
the  several  States,  amounting  to  about  ten  million 
dollars,  was  then  the  most  exciting  topic  before 
Congress,  and  there  was  intense  bitterness  between 
the  opposing  parties,  which  were  of  almost  equal 
strength.  The  Southern  States  expended  little 
money  during  the  war.  The  Northern  States  ex 
pended  a  great  deal  in  the  equipment  of  troops 
and  the  purchase  of  supplies.  Therefore  the 
Southern  members  of  Congress  were  indifferent 
while  those  from  the  North  were  imperative  in 
supporting  the  bill.  The  subject  of  second  interest 
was  the  location  of  the  capital  city.  The  Northern 
representatives  favored  a  location  near  German- 
town,  Pennsylvania;  the  Southern  members  a  site 
on  the  Potomac. 

Jefferson,  who  had  just  returned  from  five-years' 
absence  in  France,  was  not  committed  to  either 
project.  Hamilton,  being  aware  of  this,  induced 
him  to  invite  several  of  the  most  conciliatory 
Southerners  to  dine  at  his  house,  and  at  that  din 
ner  a  trade  was  arranged.  Two  of  the  Virginia 
members  voted  for  the  Assumption  Bill,  and  two 
of  the  Pennsylvania  members  voted  for  the  loca 
tion  of  the  capital  on  the  Potomac  River  opposite 
Georgetown,  with  a  proviso  that  the  seat  of  govern^ 
ment  should  remain  at  Philadelphia  for  ten  years. 

252 


JEFFERSON'S   FRIENDS   AND   HIS   ENEMIES 

A  few  months  later,  having  discovered  the  in 
tense  unpopularity  of  the  Assumption  proposition 
in  the  Southern  States,  where  the  war  debts  were 
small,  Jefferson  regretted  his  participation  and 
accused  Hamilton  of  trickery.  Then  began  the 
quarrel  which  lasted  a  life-time.  Jefferson,  how 
ever,  had  no  cause  to  complain.  He  was  not  the 
novice  in  politics  or  legislation  that  he  represented 
himself  to  be.  He  was  aware  of  the  bitterness  of 
the  contest.  His  letters  to  Monroe,  Gilmer,  and 
others  at  the  time  are  complete  evidence  that  he 
fully  understood  what  he  was  doing,  and  that  the 
only  deception  in  the  matter  was  his  own  miscon 
ception  of  public  sentiment  in  the  South.  He 
endeavored  unfairly  to  place  the  blame  of  his  own 
mistake  upon  others,  and  to  represent  himself  as 
a  guileless  victim  of  a  wicked  conspirator.  Nor 
was  he  candid  with  Hamilton.  He  continued  to 
show  a  friendly  disposition  and  confidence  while 
he  was  denouncing  him  privately  to  his  friends. 


253 


IX 

FOUNDER  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA 

/  JEFFERSON  considered  the  University  of  Virginia 
the  greatest  triumph  and  the  proudest  achievement 
of  his  life,  and  measured  its  influence  upon  the 
generations  that  were  to  come  after  him  as  more 
important  and  effective  for  good  than  any  other 
that  might  arise  from  all  of  his  public-  services^ 
The  institution  was  the  dream  of  his  youth,  and 
throughout  his  busy  life,  filled  with  cares,  respon 
sibilities,  and  labor,  his  fidelity  to  the  idea  kept 
his  mind  always  ready  to  grasp  and  utilize  any 
opportunity  which  might  promote  its  fulfilment. 

His  desire  was  accomplished  after  a  long  strug 
gle  and  the  exercise  of  remarkable  patience  and 
perseverance.  He  met  with  stubborn  opposition 
from  the  very  people  it  was  intended  to  benefit, 
and  although  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  has  made 
reasonable  grants  of  aid  from  time  to  time,  the 
institution  has  been  kept  alive  and  its  influence 
extended  by  the  generosity  of  people  outside  of 
that  State.  A  glance  at  the  list  of  endowments 
and  gifts  of  money  that  have  been  made  both 
before  and  since  the  war  ought  to  be  mortifying 
to  every  citizen  of  Virginia  and  the  other  Southern 
States.  But  for  the  munificence  of  Northern 
friends  Jefferson's  great  monument  and  his  great 
est  gift  to  the  American  people  would  long  ago 
have  perished. 

Since  its  organization  the  institution  has  re 
ceived  gifts  and  endowments  to  the  amount  of 

254 


ft 


FOUNDER  OF   UNIVERSITY   OF   VIRGINIA 

$1,393,100,  of  which  $1,038,000  was  contributed 
by  people  living  north  of  the  Potomac  River ;  $207,- 
600  by  people  living  south  of  the  Potomac  River, 
and  $135,500  by  general  contributors  from  differ- 
.  ent  parts  of  the  country  who  cannot  be  located. 
The  most  generous  benefactors  have  been  Mr. 
Arthur  W.  Austin,  of  Dedham,  Massachusetts 
($470,000)  ;  D.  B.  Fayerweather,  of  New  York 
($250,000) ;  W.  W.  Corcoran,  of  Washington 
($106,000)  ;  Leander  J.  McCormick,  of  Chicago 
($68,000) ;  Louis  Brooks,  of  Rochester,  New  York 
($68,000)  ;  Mrs.  Linden  Kent,  of  Washington 
($55,000),  and  Charles  Broadway  Rouse,  of  New 
York  ($35,000).  The  only  man  in  the  South 
who  has  given  any  considerable  sum  of  money  to 
the  institution  was  the  late  Samuel  Miller,  of 
Campbell  County,  Virginia.  He  endowed  a  de 
partment  of  scientific  and  practical  agriculture  with 
the  sum  of  $100,000.  None  of  these  benefactors 
were  graduates  in  the  institution. 

The  University  of  Virginia  has  been  and  still 
is  the  most  popular  and  influential  educational  in 
stitution  in  the  South.  It  has  a  larger  alumni 
than  any  other.  Many  of  the  prominent  men  in 
the  Southern  States  were  educated  there;  as  a 
rule,  it  has  had  more  graduates  in  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  than  any  other  institution 
in  the  country,  more  than  Yale  or  Harvard  or 
Princeton.  But  the  people  of  Virginia  have  done 
little  for  it.  They  have  treated  Jefferson  as  they 
have  treated  the  rest  of  the  famous  sons  of  the 
State,  permitting  their  monuments  to  be  erected 
by  admirers  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 

Although  the  Father  of  Democracy,  Jefferson 
was  the  first  conspicuous  advocate  in  this  country 
of  centralization  in  education,  being  a  thorough 
believer  in  state  aid  to  higher  institutions  of  learn- 

255 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

ing  and  free  education  in  the  common  schools 
supported  by  local  taxation.  To  him  the  school- 
house  was  the  fountain-head  of  happiness,  pros 
perity,  and  good  government,  and  education  was 
'*  a  holy  cause:" 

"  ( i )  To  give  to  every  citizen  the  information 
he  needs  for  the  transaction  of  his  own  business ; 

"  (2)  To  enable  him  to  calculate  for  himself, 
and  to  express  and  preserve  his  ideas,  his  contracts 
and  accounts,  in  writing; 

"  (3)  To  improve,  by  reading,  his  morals  and 
faculties ; 

"(4)  To  understand  his  duties  to  his  neighbors 
and  country,  and  to  discharge  with  competence 
the  functions  confided  to  him  by  either; 

"  (5)  To  know  his  rights;  to  exercise  with 
order  and  justice  those  he  retains ;  to  choose  with 
discretion  the  fiduciary  of  those  he  delegates ;  and 
to  notice  their  conduct  with  diligence,  with  candor 
and  judgement; 

"  (6)  And,  in  general,  to  observe  with  intelli 
gence  and  faithfulness  all  the  social  relations  un 
der  which  he  shall  be  placed." 

He  was  an  advocate  of  practical  learning,  and, 
when  appointed  a  visitor  to  William  and  Mary 
College  in  1779,  endeavored  to  lop  off  the  dead 
branches  that  hindered,  as  he  thought,  its  useful 
operation.  He  caused  the  grammar-school  to  be 
abolished  and  the  two  professorships  of  divinity 
and  Hebrew  to  be  suppressed.  In  place  of  these 
he  made  provision  for  the  instruction  of  the  stu 
dents  in  chemistry,  natural  history,  anatomy,  medi 
cine,  law,  modern  languages,  the  fine  arts,  justice, 
and  the  laws  of  nations. 

Jefferson's  educational  plan,  which  he  prepared 
for  the  State  of  Virginia,  was  comprehensive.  It 
provided  first  for  elementary  schools  in  every 

256 


FOUNDER   OF   UNIVERSITY   OF   VIRGINIA 

county,  "  which  will  place  every  householder  within 
three  miles  of  a  school ;  district  schools  which  will 
place  every  father  within  a  day's  ride  of  a  college 
where  he  may  dispose  of  his  son;  a  university  in 
a  healthy  and  central  situation.  In  the  elementary 
schools  will  be  taught  reading,  writing,  common 
arithmetic,  and  general  notions  of  geography.  In 
the  second,  ancient  and  modern  languages,  etc., 
mensuration  and  the  elementary  principles  of  navi 
gation,  and  in  the  third,  all  the  useful  sciences  in 
their  highest  degree." 

He  laid  off  every  county  into  districts  five  or 
six  miles  square,  called  "  hundreds,"  the  teacher 
to  be  supported  by  the  people  within  that  limit; 
every  family  to  send  their  children  free  for  three 
years,  and  as  much  longer  as  they  pleased,  pro 
vided  they  paid  for  it;  these  schools  to  be  under 
the  charge  of  "  a  visitor,  who  is  annually  to  select 
the  boy  of  the  best  genius  in  the  school,  whose 
parents  are  too  poor  to  give  him  an  education, 
and  send  him  to  a  grammar  school,"  of  which 
twenty  were  to  be  erected  in  different  parts  of 
Virginia ;  "  and  of  the  boys  in  each  grammar 
school  the  best  is  to  be  selected  to  be  sent  to  the 
University  free  of  cost." 

Jefferson's  first  idea  of  a  university  for  Virginia 
was  to  transform  his  venerable  alma  mater,  Wil 
liam  and  Mary  College,  which  was  under  the  care 
of  the  church,  into  a  non-sectarian  State  institu 
tion,  and  in  1795  he  corresponded  with  Washington 
on  the  subject.  He  also  asked  Washington's  co 
operation  in  bringing  the  faculty  of  the  Calvin- 
istic  Seminary  of  Geneva  en  masse  to  the  United 
States,  and  proposed  the  plan  to  the  Legislature. 
It  was  considered  too  grand  and  expensive  an 
enterprise  for  the  feeble  colony,  and  Washington's 
practical  mind  questioned  the  expediency  of  im- 
17  257 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

porting  a  body  of  foreign  theologians  and  scholars 
who  were  not  familiar  with  the  language  or  the 
customs  of  the  people.  Jefferson  then  suggested 
the  faculty  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  but 
similar  objections  were  heard  from  every  direction, 
and  the  plan  was  reluctantly  abandoned. 

Washington  had  proposed  a  national  university, 
had  reserved  for  it  a  site  in  the  new  federal  dis 
trict,  and  had  provided  in  his  will  for  the  nucleus 
of  an  endowment  by  setting  aside  the  shares  he 
owned  in  a  corporation  called  the  Potomac  Com 
pany,  which  were  then  profitable,  but  soon  after 
his  death  lost  their  value.  Jefferson  endorsed  the 
scheme  in  a  message  to  Congress  in  1806,  while 
he  was  President.  Washington  was  equally  gen 
erous  towards  a  new  college  established  at  Lex 
ington  and  called  by  his  name,  now  known  as 
Washington  and  Lee  University.  With  these  two 
institutions  in  his  mind,  it  was  not  to  be  expected 
that  he  would  enter  heartily  into  Jefferson's  plan 
for  a  third,  although  it  does  not  appear  that  he 
ever  offered  opposition  or  threw  obstacles  in  Jeffer 
son's  way. 

Jefferson  reluctantly  gave  up  his  plan  of  im 
porting  a  ready-made  university,  but  continued 
to  discuss  the  necessity  of  a  State  institution  with 
a  view  of  educating  the  public  and  securing  the 
support  and  cooperation  of  influential  friends.  He 
showed  greater  persistence  and  tenacity  towards 
this  than  towards  any  other  project  of  his  life.  It 
became  his  favorite  hobby,  and  he  never  failed 
to  bring  it  to  the  attention  of  foreign  visitors  with 
whom  he  had  intercourse  during  his  official  life 
and  after  his  retirement.  He  studied  European 
institutions  with  great  care,  their  systems  of  edu 
cation,  their  plans  of  government,  their  architec 
ture,  their  methods  of  conferring  honors  and  de- 

258 


FOUNDER   OF   UNIVERSITY   OF   VIRGINIA 

grees,  until  perhaps  no  one  on  either  continent 
became  so  familiar  with  the  subject.  He  found 
a  zealous  coadjutor  in  Joseph  C.  Cabell,  a  wealthy 
and  cultured  Virginian,  who  had  travelled  exten 
sively  in  Europe,  had  spent  some  years  at  the 
German  universities,  and  was  familiar  with  those 
of  England  and  France.  By  the  urgent  advice  of 
Jefferson  he  became  a  member  of  the  Legislature 
of  Virginia  and  was  reflected  to  that  body  for 
twenty  years,  chiefly  to  champion  Jefferson's  three 
great  ideas,  popular  education,  free  local  schools, 
and  a  State  university. 

In  1814  Cabell  introduced  a  bill,  which  became 
a  law,  chartering  an  academy  for  Albemarle 
County,  the  funds  to  be  raised  by  lottery.  Jeffer 
son  was  made  chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees. 
A  site  was  selected  where  the  University  of  Vir 
ginia  now  stands,  but  the  project  went  no  farther. 

Two  years  later  the  Legislature  passed  an  act 
providing  that  "  certain  escheats,  penalties  and  for 
feitures"  imposed  by  the  courts  should  be  devoted 
to  the  encouragement  of  learning,  and  Jefferson's 
keen  scent  saw  in  it  the  possibility  of  endowment 
for  a  State  institution.  He  attempted  to  secure 
the  funds  for  the  proposed  Albemarle  Academy, 
but  met  with  determined  opposition  from  William 
and  Mary  College,  from  Washington  College  at 
Lexington,  and  from  the  churches,  which  were 
opposed  to  non-sectarian  education.  Jefferson  en 
deavored  to  arrange  a  compromise  under  which 
either  of  the  two  existing  institutions  might  be 
transformed  into  a  State  university,  but  their  de 
nominational  trustees  would  not  surrender  them, 
and  his  fixed  convictions  could  not  tolerate  the  idea 
of  ecclesiastical  influence  in  higher  education. 

It  was  slow  work  raising  funds  for  Albemarle 
Academy.  Those  who  did  not  belong  to  the  church 

259 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

were  poor,  and  orthodox  churchmen  would  not 
contribute  to  any  institution  that  was  not  endorsed 
by  the  clergy.  Furthermore,  the  name  localized 
the  academy  and  prevented  Jefferson  from  se 
curing  assistance  outside  of  the  county.  Hence 
he  had  the  charter  rights  transferred  to  "  Central 
College,"  an  institution  to  be  established  under 
the  care  of  the  State,  with  a  board  of  trustees  con 
sisting  of  Jefferson,  Madison  (then  President), 
Monroe  (then  Secretary  of  State),  J.  C.  Cabell,  his 
representative  in  the  Legislature,  and  other  sym 
pathetic  friends.  With  the  money  contributed  to 
Albemarle  Academy  he  purchased  two  hundred 
acres  of  land,  "  high,  dry,  open,  furnished  with 
good  water,  and  nothing  in  the  vicinity  which 
could  threaten  the  health  of  the  students,"  one 
mile  from  Charlottesville,  and  the  price  paid  was 
fifteen  hundred  and  eighteen  dollars  and  seventy- 
five  cents.  The  University  of  Virginia  now  stands 
upon  that  land.  Subscriptions  to  the  amount  of 
forty- four  thousand  dollars  were  obtained,  each 
of  the  trustees  subscribing  one  thousand  dollars. 
Jefferson  produced  architectural  designs  upon 
which  he  had  been  constantly  engaged  since  his 
retirement  from  the  Presidency.  They  were  an 
adaptation  of  mediaeval  cloistered  retreats.  The 
buildings  were  to  surround  three  sides  of  a  quad 
rangle.  The  two  arms  were  to  consist  of  dormi 
tories  opening  upon  covered  colonnades  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  students,  with  two-story 
houses  at  equal  intervals  for  the  use  of  the  pro 
fessors;  while  the  central  side  was  to  be  occupied 
by  an  imposing  structure  with  a  dome  to  contain 
the  recitation-rooms,  the  library,  and  the  offices 
of  administration.  It  was  the  same  plan  that  was 
afterwards  carried  out  with  greater  elaboration. 
The  corner-stone  of  the  first  building  was  laid  on 

260 


FOUNDER   OF   UNIVERSITY   OF   VIRGINIA 

October  6,  1817,  by  James  Monroe,  then  President 
of  the  United  States. 

Jefferson's  persistent  advocacy  of  a  State  uni 
versity  had  made  the  idea  so  popular,  and  had  so 
impressed  the  people  with  the  necessity  of  such 
an  institution,  that  the  Legislature  in  1818  passed 
an  act  appointing  a  board  of  commissioners  to 
report  a  plan  and  select  a  site,  and  appropriating 
fifteen  thousand  dollars  as  the  first  instalment. 
Jefferson  hurried  the  work  upon  "  Central  Col 
lege,"  so  as  to  strengthen  the  claim  of  that  insti 
tution,  and  appeared  in  .its  behalf  before  the  com 
missioners,  who  met  in)"  a  low  ceiled,  white  washed 
room"  in  a  tavern  aT^ock-FishJ^ap  in  the  Blue 
Ridge  Mountains  iiTAugust,(i 8 1 8Qlt  was  a  mem 
orable  gathering.  The  President f  the  United 
States,  Monroe,  and  two  ex-Presidents,  Jefferson 
and  Madison,  were  there,  zealously  lobbying  in 
the  interests  of  their  young  institution.  Three 
locations  were  proposed, — Lexington,  Staunton, 
and  Charlottesville.  Jefferson,  then  seventy-five 
years  old,  made  the  argument  in  behalf  of  Char 
lottesville,  and  demonstrated  by  a  map  that  it  was 
the  centre  of  population.  When  the  ballot  was 
taken  Charlottesville  received  sixteen,  Lexington 
three,  and  Staunton  two  votes.  The  decision  was 
made  unanimous  and  Jefferson  was  authorized 
to  draw  the  report,  which  recommended : 

1.  The  recognition  of  Central  College  as  a  State 
university. 

2.  The  adoption  of  his  plan  of  buildings  called 
"  an  academical  village." 

3.  An  elective  course  of  study,  described  in  de 
tail,  covering  five  years. 

4.  General  provisions  for  the  government  of  the 
students,   for  discipline,  tuition,  board,  lodgings, 
degrees,  prizes,  etc. 

261 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

This  report  was  an  elaboration  of  the  ideas 
which  Mr.  Jefferson  had  been  advocating  all  his 
life;  the  formulation  of  the  information,  observa 
tion,  experience,  and  reflection  of  forty  years,  and 
the  University  of  Virginia  to-day  is  the  practical 
embodiment  of  these  recommendations. 

The  report  was  well  received  by  the  Legislature, 
but  met  with  determined  opposition  from  the  Epis 
copal  and  other  clergy  of  the  State,  from  rival 
colleges,  and  from  Jefferson's  personal  enemies 
and  political  opponents,  who  realized  the  depth  of 
his  interest  in  the  project  and  the  fact  that  his 
life  and  happiness  were  wrapped  up  in  the  result. 
Cabell  stood  as  its  defender  and  advocate,  and 
when  the  act  was  finally  passed,  on  January  25, 
1819,  he  dropped  from  exhaustion,  and  never  re 
covered  his  strength. 

The  property  of  Central  College  was  conveyed 
to  a  board  of  trustees  representing  the  State. 
Thomas  Jefferson  was  appointed  Rector  of  the  new 
institution,  and  henceforth  he  was  able  to  carry 
out  his  plans  unhampered,  except  by  poverty .^>Not 
only  did  he  devise  the  entire  system  of  instruction, 
but  every  feature  of  administration  and  construc 
tion,  drawing  the  plans  and  specifications,  making 
the  estimates  of  cost  and  the  contracts  for  con 
struction,  and  personally  superintending  the  work. 
When  his  increasing  infirmities  prevented  him  from 
going  to  the  grounds  he  watched  the  builders  from 
Monticello  through  a  telescope,  which  is  sacredly 
preserved  in  the  library  of  the  University.  The 
superintendent  reported  to  him  at  the  close  of 
every  day  the  minutest  details,  which  were  care 
fully  recorded  in  his  own  handwriting.  He  edu 
cated  masons,  bricklayers,  and  carpenters  to  do 
the  work;  he  designed  tools  for  them  to  use; 
taught  them  how  to  cover  roofs  with  tin  and 

262 


FOUNDER   OF   UNIVERSITY   OF   VIRGINIA 

to  sprinkle  coarse  sand  in  their  paint  so  as  to  give 
the  woodwork  the  appearance  of  stone;  and  when 
he  could  find  no  one  in  Virginia  competent  to 
chisel  the  capitals  of  the  marble  columns  he  im 
ported  sculptors  from  Italy. 

His  thought  and  labor  for  this  institution,  and 
the  obstacles  he  had  to  overcome  in  procuring  the 
necessary  funds,  served  to  distract  his  thoughts 
in  a  measure  from  his  own  pecuniary  embarrass 
ments,  which  so  embittered  the  closing  years  of 
his  life. 

Edward  Bacon,  his  overseer,  tells  how  the  build 
ings  for  "  Central  College"  were  begun.  In  his 
reminiscences  he  says :  "  My  instruction  was  to 
get  ten  able  bodied  hands  to  commence  the  work. 
I  soon  got  them  and  Mr.  Jefferson  started  from 
Monticello  to  lay  off  the  foundation,  and  see  the 
work  commenced.  An  Irishman  named  Dinsmore 
and  I  went  along  with  him.  As  we  passed  through 
Charlottesville,  I  went  to  old  Davy  Isaac's  store, 
and  got  a  ball  of  twine,  and  Dinsmore  found  some 
shingles  and  made  some  pegs,  and  we  all  went 
on  to  the  old  field  together.  Mr.  Jefferson  looked 
over  the  ground  for  some  time  and  then  stuck 
down  a  peg.  He  stuck  the  very  first  peg  in  that 
building,  and  then  directed  me  where  to  carry  the 
line,  and  I  stuck  the  second.  He  carried  one  end 
of  the  line  and  I  the  other  in  laying  off  the  foun 
dation  of  the  University.  He  had  a  little  rule  in 
his  pocket  that  he  always  carried  with  him,  and 
with  this  he  measured  off  the  ground,  and  laid 
off  the  entire  foundation,  and  then  set  the  men  at 
work. 

"  After  the  foundation  was  nearly  completed, 
they  had  a  great  time  laying  the  corner  stone. 
The  old  field  was  covered  with  carriages  and 
people.  There  was  an  immense  crowd  there.  Mr. 

263 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

Monroe  laid  the  corner  stone.  He  was  President 
at  that  time.  Mr.  Jefferson, — poor  old  man,  I 
can  see  his  white  head  just  as  he  stood  there  and 
looked  on.  After  this  he  rode  there  from  Monti- 
cello  every  day  while  the  University  was  building, 
unless  the  weather  was  very  stormy.  He  looked 
after  all  the  materials  and  would  not  allow  any  poor 
materials  to  go  into  the  building  if  he  could  help 
it.  He  took  as  much  pains  in  seeing  that  every 
thing  was  done  right  as  if  it  had  been  his  own 
house." 

Jefferson  continued  his  personal  supervision  to 
the  end  of  his  days  and  kept  the  records  of  the 
institution  with  great  detail,  notwithstanding  his 
age  and  an  infirm  wrist,  which  had  been  fractured. 
The  last  entry  included  the  minutes  of  a  meeting 
of  the  Board  of  Visitors  only  a  few  days  before 
his  death.  For  a  man  who  wrote  so  much  he 
was  a  marvellous  penman.  Every  page  is  neat, 
every  letter  plainly  and  perfectly  formed,  so  that 
his  writing  is  as  easy  to  read  as  print,. and  up  to 
the  last  shows  a  firmness  and  regularity  quite  as 
marked  as  the  pages  he  wrote  in  early  manhood. 

His  original  intention  was  to  use  in  the  build 
ings  nothing  but  Virginia  stone,  but  when  he 
found  that  it  was  not  adapted  for  fine  carving 
he  brought  marble  from  Carrara.  There  is  noth 
ing  to  be  seen,  there  is  scarcely  anything  to  be 
heard,  and  very  few  ideas  can  be  suggested  at 
the  University  of  Virginia  that  did  not  spring  from 
Jefferson's  fertile  and  comprehensive  mind.  His 
architectural  designs,  however,  were  not  original. 
Most  of  them  were  copied  by  his  own  hand  or 
that  of  his  granddaughter  from  a  picture-book, 
'  The  Architecture  of  A.  Palladio,"  well  known 
to  students  in  that  branch  of  art.  It  contains 
engravings  of  classic  models  of  the  five  orders 

264 


FOUNDER   OF   UNIVERSITY   OF   VIRGINIA 

of  architecture,  with  "  the  most  necessary  observa 
tions,"  by  Giacomo  Leoni,  a  Venetian,  and  "  Notes 
and  Remarks  of  Inigo  Jones,  now  first  taken  from 
his  Original  Manuscript  in  Worcester  College 
Library,  Oxford."  Jefferson  appears  to  have  given 
the  volume  careful  study  for  years,  and  reproduced 
among  the  buildings  of  the  University  those  fea 
tures  of  architecture  among  its  illustrations  which 
to  his  taste  were  the  purest  and  most  beautiful 
examples  of  the  classic  period, — the  theatre  of 
Marcellus,  the  baths  of  Diocletian  and  Caracalla, 
the  temple  of  Fortuna  Virilis, — and  for  the  central 
figure  of  the  composition  he  reconstructed  the 
Roman  Pantheon,  the  temple  of  all  the  gods,  re 
duced  to  one-third  of  its  original  size,  but  still 
majestic  and  imposing. 

The  curves  of  the  dome,  when  extended  to  the 
ground,  describe  an  exact  circle,  and  in  symmetry 
and  simplicity  he  esteemed  it  the  noblest  expres 
sion  of  human  construction.  In  selecting  this 
model  for  the  library  Jefferson  desired  to  keep 
constantly  before  the  eyes  of  the  students  an  object- 
lesson  that  would  elevate  their  taste  and  appeal 
to  the  highest  sense  of  the  artistic. 

These  buildings  are  grouped  around  a  quad 
rangle  one  thousand  feet  in  length  by  five  hundred 
feet  in  width,  the  library  lifting  its  noble  form 
at  one  end,  and  a  group  of  new  Ionic  buildings 
at  the  other,  erected  recently  to  take  the  place  of 
those  which  were  destroyed  by  fire  in  1895.  The 
three  sides  of  the  quadrangle  are  lined  with  por 
ticoes  extending  from  the  buildings  twenty  feet 
or  more  and  sustained  by  rows  of  white  pillars. 
They  resemble  the  cloisters  of  an  ancient  monas 
tery.  The  students  occupy  monkish  cells,  entered 
from  the  arcade  and  lighted  from  the  rear,  while 
at  intervals  the  sameness  is  broken  by  a  two-story 

265 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

structure,  with  a  bold,  bald  front,  in  which  a 
professor  resides.  The  ground  slopes  just  enough 
to  enable  the  landscape  gardener  to  make  a  series 
of  terraces  upon  the  lawn,  and  the  magnificent 
shade-trees,  luxuriant  shrubbery,  and  the  quaint 
serpentine  fences  of  brick  combine  to  make  a  pic 
ture  more  classic,  attractive,  and  novel  than  can 
be  found  in  any  other  American  town. 

The  buildings  furnish  a  striking  contrast  to  the 
ugly,  square-cornered,  many-windowed,  factory- 
like  dormitories  and  recitation-halls  found  upon  the 
campus  of  the  ordinary  college  in  the  North.  The 
leanness  of  their  endowments  and  the  demand  for 
educational  accommodations  tempted  their  trustees, 
no  doubt,  to  buy  as  many  brick  and  partition  off 
as  many  rooms  as  they  could  with  the  money,  with 
out  a  thought  of  the  esthetic.  But  Jefferson  had 
an  ideal, — the  result  of  years  of  inquiry  and  con 
templation, — and  he  endeavored  to  combine  and 
carry  out  in  the  University  of  Virginia  an  intel 
lectual,  political,  and  moral  development,  and  the 
cultivation  of  an  artistic  taste  among  his  country 
men.  As  a  consequence  one  finds  at  that  institu 
tion  imposing  architectural  effects,  a  curriculum 
which  embraces  all  branches  of  human  knowledge, 
and  a  code  of  rules  which  recognizes  that  boys 
as  well  as  men  are  capable  of  self-government  and 
are  controlled  by  the  instincts  of  honor. 

Several  buildings  have  been  added  to  the  scho 
lastic  colony  since  his  day,  but  the  original  group 
as  planned  by  him  still  remains  the  most  notable 
example  in  the  United  States  of  the  classic  school 
of  architecture.  The  gymnasium  is  detached  and 
stands  some  distance  from  the  library;  the  chapel 
is  a  Gothic  structure,  entirely  out  of  harmony  with 
the  rest  of  the  buildings,  and  looks  as  if  it  were 
guilty  of  an  unwarranted  intrusion. 

266 


GLIMPSE   OK    DORMITORIES,    UNIVERSITY    OF    VIRGINIA 
(Designed  by  Thomas  Jefferson) 


FOUNDER   OF  UNIVERSITY   OF  VIRGINIA 

Running  in  parallel  lines  with  the  long  sides 
of  the  quadrangle,  are  low  dormitories  and  other 
buildings  for  the  accommodation  of  literary  so 
cieties  and  the  professors,  all  connected  by  colon 
nades;  so  that  it  is  possible  to  visit  nine-tenths 
of  the  University,  including  the  professors'  resi 
dences,  without  passing  from  under  the  roofs. 

James  Monroe  used  to  live  in  a  house  on  a 
little  hill  just  outside  the  quadrangle,  but  his  man 
sion  was  burned  some  years  ago,  and  the  site  is 
now  occupied  by  a  dormitory.  His  law  office  is 
preserved  as  he  left  it. 

The  motto  of  the  University,  selected  by  Jeffer-  ] 
son,  is~  "Ariel  ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free."  The  central  idea  is 
"  freedom."  Jefferson  seems  to  have  had  that 
word  in  his  mind  continually.  "  I  have  sworn," 
he  said,  "  upon  the  altar  of  God  eternal  hostility 
against  every  form  of  tyranny  over  the  mind  of 
man,"  and  in  framing  the  organization  of  this 
institution  he  introduced  every  form  of  freedom 
that  could  be  applied.  The  members  of  the  faculty 
are  free  to  exercise  their  own  judgment  within 
their  jurisdiction.  The  University  of  Virginia  is 
the  only  institution  of  its  kind  in  this  country 
without  a  president.  For  convenience  in  transact 
ing  business  the  faculty  elect  a  chairman  from 
among  its  own  members  and  appoint  committees 
to  look  after  the  various  interests  of  the  institu 
tion.  But  so  long  as  he  attends  properly  to  his 
duties  and  satisfies  the  requirements  of  the  Board 
of  Visitors  each  professor  is  at  the  head  of  an 
independent  school  and  can  arrange  the  work  and 
prescribe  the  instruction  of  his  students. 

At  the  same  time  the  student  is  free  in  selecting 
his  studies.  There  is  no  prescribed  course.  He 
can  follow  any  line  of  learning  he  likes.  He  is 

267 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

free  to  go  and  come  as  pleases  him  best,  but  he 
must  be  a  gentleman  and  learn  enough  to  pass 
his  examinations  before  can  get  a  degree.  He  is 
free  from  all  espionage  by  the  faculty.  There 
is  no  compulsory  attendance  at  chapel  or  elsewhere. 
The  rules  require  from  every  student  "  decorous, 
sober  and  upright  conduct  as  long  as  he  remains 
a  member  of  the  university,  whether  he  be  within 
its  precincts  or  not."  "  If  in  the  opinion  of  the 
faculty  any  student  be  not  fulfilling  the  purposes 
for  which  he  ought  to  have  come,  the  faculty  may 
require  him  to  withdraw  after  informing  him  of 
the  objections  to  his  conduct  and  affording  him 
an  opportunity  of  explanation  and  defense." 
"  Drunkenness,  gambling,  and  dissoluteness,  pro 
fane  language,  extravagant  habits,  visiting  bar 
rooms  or  gaming  tables,  the  use  or  possession  of 
fire  arms,  the  contraction  of  debts,  the  introduction 
or  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  within  the  pre 
cincts  of  the  university,"  are  absolutely  forbidden 
because  they  are  not  considered  proper  habits  for 
a  gentleman,  and  the  University  of  Virginia  is 
intended  exclusively  for  that  class  of  society. 

What  is  known  as  "  the  honor  system"  has 
always  prevailed.  The  faculty  assumes  that  every 
student  is  an  honorable  and  a  truthful  man.  Most 
of  the  discipline  is  left  to  the  students  themselves. 
The  University  is  a  little  republic  where  self-gov 
ernment  prevails  and  personal  honor  is  sacred. 
The  spirit  of  manliness  makes  every  student  care 
ful  of  his  own  and  his  comrades's  behavior.  When 
a  boy  shows  a  lack  of  self-respect  or  violates  the 
proprieties  to  such  an  extent  as  to  unfit  him  to  be 
an  associate  for  honorable  young  men,  it  seldom 
requires  the  intervention  of  the  faculty  to  separate 
him  from  the  institution.  The  students  look  after 
that  themselves. 

268 


X 

JEFFERSON  AS  A  POLITICIAN  AND  "  JEFFER- 
SONIAN  PRINCIPLES" 

WE  are  accustomed  to  being  told  by  authors  and 
orators  that  Thomas  Jefferson  was  the  ablest  poli 
tician  this  country  has  thus  far  produced,  and, 
judged  by  the  standards  of  his  generation,  that  is 
doubtless  true.  It  is  common  to  say  and  to  believe 
that  Washington  was  the  greatest  soldier,  Marshall 
the  ablest  jurist,  Henry  the  most  eloquent  orator, 
Webster  and  Clay  the  most  convincing  debaters 
this  country  has  produced,  yet  there  are  giants  in 
these  days  also  whose  proportions  would  be  en 
larged  by  the  perspective  of  a  century  but  are 
diminished  by  familiarity.  It  is  of  course  im 
possible  to  say  whether  Grant  or  Sherman  pos 
sessed  the  untiring  patience  of  Washington  and 
could  have  led  to  victory  the  undisciplined  troops 
of  the  Continental  army;  but  the  Justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court  to-day  will  tell  you  that  the  late 
Joseph  P.  Bradley  was  the  most  profound  scholar 
that  ever  graced  the  American  bench,  and  that 
Samuel  F.  Miller's  mind  was  in  every  respect 
equal  to  Marshall's;  Senators  will  contend  that 
Conkling,  Elaine,  Thurman,  Edmunds,  Hoar,  and 
Harrison  could  have  met  the  ablest  debaters  of 
early  times  on  even  terms;  that  Beecher,  Inger- 
soll,  and  Wendell  Phillips  had  tongues  as  eloquent 
as  Patrick  Henry's;  and  that  Abraham  Lincoln, 
Samuel  J.  Tilden,  and  others  who  might  be  named 
were  as  sagacious  in  political  affairs  as  was 

269 


i 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

Thomas  Jefferson.  Changing  conditions  make  ex 
act  measurements  impossible  and  random  compari 
son  unfair.  There  are  embryo  Washingtons  and 
Jeffersons,  Lincolns  and  Grants,  in  the  villages  of 
Virginia  and  the  cities  of  the  country  awaiting  de 
velopment  as  their  services  may  be  required  by 
their  fellow-men.  There  was  never  an  emergency 
but  some  one  arose  to  meet  it,  and  Websters, 
Blaines,  Grants,  Bradleys,  and  Tildens  are  moving 
among  the  multitudes  to-day, — as  many  as  man 
kind  will  ever  need, — unmindful  of  their  power, 
unconscious  of  their  destiny.  Not  long  ago  after 
a  young  lawyer  from  Chicago  made  his  first  ap 
pearance  before  the  Supreme  Court  the  Chief- 
Justice  remarked :  "  If  that  argument  had  been 
delivered  a  century  ago  it  would  have  given  him 
a  national  reputation.  To-day  it  will  pass  un 
noticed  except  by  his  clients  and  the  court."  As 
the  world  grows  wider  the  stature  of  its  leaders 
must  enlarge.  As  the  horizon  extends  the  power 
of  vision  must  increase.  \There  are  men  living 
to-day  who,  inspired  by  me  same  motives  and 
guided  by  the  Sdtne  principles,  might  have  ful 
filled  the  destiny  of  Jefferson  as  ably  and  success 
fully  as  he,  but  the  ability,  industry,  and  learning 
he  possessed  would  command  a  foremost  place 
in  any  race  or  generation. 

Conscious  of  his  own  moral,  intellectual,  and 
political  power,  impressed  with  the  accuracy  of 
his  own  convictions  and  the  patriotism  of  his  mo 
tives,  Jefferson  endeavored  to  assume  leadership 
in  whatever  field  of  activity  he  found  himself  en 
gaged.  His  vivid  individuality,  self-reliance,  and 
vast  fund  of  information  usually  compelled  sub 
mission,  and  when  others  would  not  yield  he  be 
came  restless  and  discontented.  He  believed  that 
his  theories  of  government  were  so  founded  in 

270 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN. 

eternal  truth  that  success  and  popularity  must^ 
naturally  attend  him  as  their  advocate  and  ex-j 
pounder.  He  was  egotistical  and  confident  be 
cause  he  had  convinced  himself  that  he  was  a 
genuine  and  successful  benefactor  of  mankind, — 
the  teacher  of  a  great  gospel  that,  like  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  embodied  all  the  science  of  govern 
ment  and  human  morality. 

In  the  early  days  of  his  prominence  in  public 
affairs  Jefferson  was  not  a  party  man.  "  If  I 
could  not  go  to  Heaven  but  with  a  party  I  would 
not  go  there  at  all,"  he  said,  and  he  accused  the 
Federalists  of  trying  to  divide  the  people  into 
factions;  but  soon  afterwards  became  an  intense 
partisan.  He  recognized  the  advantage  of  organi 
zation  to  promote  political  principles,  and  finally 
concluded  that  parties  were  not  only  necessary  but 
beneficial  in  watching  each  other,  provoking  agi 
tation,  discussion,  and  interest  in  public  affairs. 

He  conceived  the  plan,  which  Mr.  Bryan  at 
tempted  a  century  later,  of  running  party  lines 
on  what  he  called  "  a  natural  division  between  the 
aristocracy  and  the  common  people.  Whatever 
occurs  in  any  nation  in  the  way  of  politics  must 
be  followed  by  such  a  division  of  interest,"  he 
said.  "  These  divisions  have  existed  in  all  coun 
tries  by  whatever  name  they  might  be  called." 
"  Men  are  divided  into  two  parties  by  their  con 
stitutions;  .  .  .  those  who  fear  and  distrust  the 
people,  and  wish  to  draw  all  powers  from  them 
into  the  hands  of  a  higher  class,  and  second,  those 
who  identify  themselves  with  the  people,  have  con 
fidence  in  them,  cherish  and  consider  them  as  the 
most  honest  and  safe  although  not  the  most  wise 
depositary  of  the  public  interest." 

•  "  In  every  free  and  deliberating  society,"  said 
Jefferson   while   he  was   Vice-President,    "  there1 

271 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

must  from  the  nature  of  man  be  opposite  parties 
and  violent  dissentions  and  discords,  and  one  of 
these  for  the  most  part  must  prevail  over  the  other 
for  a  longer  or  a  shorter  time.  Perhaps  this  party 
division  is  necessary  to  induce  each  to  watch  and 
relate  to  the  people  the  proceedings  of  the  other. 
But,  if  on  the  temporary  superiority  of  one  party, 
the  other  is  to  resort  to  a  scission  of  the  union, 
no  federal  government  can  ever  exist. 

"  Seeing  therefore  that  an  association  of  men 
who  will  not  quarrel  with  each  other,  is  a  thing 
which  never  yet  existed,  from  the  greatest  con 
federacy  of  nations  down  to  a  town  meeting  or 
a  vestry,  seeing  that  we  must  have  somebody  to 
quarrel  with,  I  had  rather  keep  our  New  England 
associates  for  that  purpose,  than  to  see  our  bick 
erings  transferred  to  others.  They  are  circum 
scribed  within  such  narrow  limits  and  their  popu 
lation  is  so  full,  that  their  numbers  will  ever  be  the 
minority,  and  they  are  marked  like  the  Jews  with 
such  a  peculiarity  of  character  as  to  constitute 
from  that  circumstance  the  natural  division  of 
our  party.  A  little  patience  and  we  shall  see  the 
reign  of  witches  pass  over,  their  spells  dissolved 
and  the  people  recovering  their  true  sight,  restore 
the  government  to  its  true  principle." 

While  he  was  Secretary  of  State  these  lines  were 
drawn,  much  to  the  anxiety  of  Washington,  who 
was  a  man  of  benevolent  disposition,  and  foresaw 
danger  to  the  republic  in  the  partisanship  that  was 
being  developed  in  the  minds  of  those  around 
him.  It  soon  became  intense,  much  more  so  than 
at  any  time  since,  and  in  1797,  the  second  year 
of  his  Vice-Presidency,  we  find  Jefferson  com 
plaining  of  the  situation  he  had  aided  to  create. 
He  wrote  Edward  Rutledge :  "  You  and  I  have 
seen  warm  debates  and  high  political  passions. 

272 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

But  gentlemen  of  different  politics  would  then 
speak  to  each  other,  and  separate  the  business 
of  the  Senate  from  that  of  society.  It  is  not  so 
now.  Men  who  have  been  intimate  all  their  lives, 
cross  the  streets  to  avoid  meeting,  and  turn  their 
heads  another  way,  lest  they  should  be  obliged 
to  touch  their  hats.  This  may  do  for  young  men 
with  whom  passion  is  enjoyment,  but  it  is  afflict 
ing  to  peaceable  minds."  And  to  his  daughter 
he  said :  "  When  I  look  to  the  ineffable  pleasure 
of  my  family  society,  I  become  more  and  more 
disgusted  with  the  jealousies,  the  hatred,  and  the 
rancorous  and  malignant  passions  of  this  scene, 
and  lament  my  having  ever  again  been  drawn  into 
public  view.  Tranquility  is  now  my  object.  I 
have  seen  enough  of  political  honors  to  know  that 
they  are  but  splendid  torments." 

In  his  day  there  were  no  political  committees, 
or  clubs ;  no  primaries ;  no  caucuses ;  no  nomi 
nating  conventions ;  no  campaign  funds.  Dis 
cussions  were  carried  on  in  the  weekly  newspapers 
and  by  the  publication  of  pamphlets,  and  in  form 
ing  a  great  political  party  Jefferson  was  furnished 
with  a  mass  of  fresh,  pliant  material  that  had  never 
before  been  subjected  to  such  influence  as  he  ex 
ercised,  and  submitted  readily  to  his  purpose. 
There  had  been  no  permanent  division  of  the  peo 
ple  on  the  line  of  political  opinion.  Washington 
had  twice  been  unanimously  elected  to  the  Presi 
dency.  His  personal  influence,  which  was  greater 
than  any  other  man  ever  exerted  over  a  community, 
had  determined  the  choice  of  his  successor.  But 
in  that  campaign  public  sentiment  began  to  crys 
tallize  upon  questions  of  policy  and  administration ; 
the  quarrels  between  Jefferson  and  Hamilton  had 
become  notorious  and  the  partisans  of  each  were 
increasing  in  number  and  earnestness.  People  were 
is  273 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

already  participating  in  their  disputes  as  to  the 
proper  form  of  government  for  the  new  republic; 
and  it  was  natural  for  those  who  thought  alike 
to  seek  a  leader  who  could  instruct  and  direct 
them. 

The  Federalists  formed  the  first  party,  the  origi 
nal  political  organization  in  this  country  after  the 
inauguration  of  the  government,  and  were  repre 
sented  by  Washington,  Adams,  Hamilton,  and 
others  who  did  not  believe  that  the  masses  were  fit 
for  self-government.  They  held  the  offices  and  the 
authority,  and  when  Jefferson  retired  from  the 
Cabinet  of  Washington  in  1793,  it  was  natural  that 
he,  with  his  aggressive  disposition,  great  learning, 
advanced  ideas,  profound  convictions,  wide  expe 
rience,  and  personal  popularity  should  assume  lead 
ership,  and  by  corresponding  with  friends  and 
acquaintances  throughout  the  country  unite  and 
organize  those  who  were  opposed  to  the  monarchi 
cal  tendencies  of  the  aristocracy,  the  wealth,  the 
commercial  class,  the  clergy,  and  the  conservative 
element  of  the  population, — for  it  was  thus  that 
the  Democratic  party  of  the  United  States  came 
into  existence. 

With  an  adroitness  that  marked  all  his  political 
movements,  Jefferson  coined  the  captivating  title 
"  Republican"  to  designate  his  adherents.  He 
soon  discovered  a  better  term,  more  appropriate 
to  their  principles,  more  pleasing  to  the  class  he 
desired  to  enlist  under  his  banner;  hence,  after  a 
time,  he  began  to  refer  to  them  as  Democratic- 
Republicans,  and  finally,  as  that  title  was  too  cum 
bersome,  he  dropped  the  original  name  and  the 
hyphen,  transformed  the  adjective  into  a  noun, 
and  henceforth  they  were  Democrats, — the  advo 
cates  and  defenders  of  democracy,  a  government 
of  the  people. 

274 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

The  movement  had  not  acquired  sufficient  impe 
tus  to  be  seriously  felt  in  the  Presidential  cam 
paign  of  1796,  which,  as  has  been  said,  was  prac 
tically  determined  by  the  personal  preference  of 
Washington,  although,  had  Jefferson's  followers 
at  that  early  day  realized  their  own  strength,  he 
would  have  been  the  second  President  instead  of 
John  Adams.  As  it  happened,  Adams  had  a 
majority  of  only  three  votes  in  the  electoral  col 
lege,  which  might  have  been  easily  overcome  in 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina,  where 
the  electors  were  chosen  by  popular  vote  without 
instructions  or  pledges.  One  elector  in  each  of  the 
three  States  took  advantage  of  the  liberty  allowed 
him  to  cast  his  ballot  for  Adams  instead  of  Jeffer 
son,  who  was  entitled  to  it  as  the  popular  choice. 
We  do  not  know  what  influences  were  exerted, 
what  inducements  were  offered,  or  what  penalties 
were  suffered  by  the  culprits,  because  the  news 
papers  of  those  days  do  not  allude  to  the  matter, 
and  only  incidental  references  appear  in  the  corre 
spondence  of  public  men.  It  is  strange  that  Jeffer 
son,  with  his  habit  of  keeping  diaries  and  writing 
to  his  friends  on  all  subjects  of  current  interest, 
should  have  failed  to  leave  posterity  an  explanation 
of  this  interesting  incident.  A  possible  but  im 
probable  reference  to  it  appears  in  his  diary  more 
than  a  year  later,  December  26,  1797,  where  he 
records  some  gossip  from  a  Mr.  Langdon  about 
President  Adams,  "  who,  gritting  his  teeth  said 
'  Damn  'em !  Damn  'em !  Damn  'em !  you  see  that 
an  elective  government  will  not  do.'  He  also  tells 
me  that  Mr.  A  in  a  late  conversn  said  '  Republi 
canism  must  be  disgraced,  Sir.'  '  At  any  rate  the 
election  of  1796  was  the  last  at  which  the  electors 
were  allowed  the  free  exercise  of  their  judgment. 
Since  then  they  have  been  solemnly  pledged  to 

275 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

support  the  candidates  of  their  party  in  the  elec 
toral  college. 

It  surprised  and  disconcerted  John  Adams  andrf 
the  other  Federalists  to  find  Jefferson  in  the  chair 
of  the  Vice-President  instead  of  Charles  Cofes- 
worth  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  who  had  been 
their  candidate;  for,  previous  to  the  amendment 
of  the  Constitution  in  1803,  the  person  receiving 
the  second  number  of  votes  was  entitled  to  the 
Vice-Presidency. 

The  partisanship  and  other  blunders  of  Adams's 
administration,  and  the  odious  legislation  of  the 
Federalists,  who  controlled  both  branches  of  Con 
gress,  assisted  Jefferson  in  the  organization  of  a 
new  political  party  to  a  degree  beyond  all  he  could 
have  hoped  or  wished.  His  position  as  presiding 
officer  in  the  Senate  afforded  him  opportunities  for 
observing  the  errors  of  his  opponents  and  ample 
leisure  to  take  advantage  of  them,  so  that  when 
the  time  for  electing  a  new  President  approached, 
the  Republicans,  as  they  were  then  called,  were 
well  organized,  harmonious,  enthusiastic,  and  con 
fident  in  all  the  States.  The  Federalists  appear  to 
have  been  ignorant  or  at  least  indifferent  concern 
ing  the  activity  of  Jefferson  and  his  followers, 
and  Colonel  Hamilton  protested  in  vain  against 
the  policy  of  the  President  and  his  party  in  Con 
gress.  The  Federalists  had  never  been  defeated; 
they  marched  under  the  sacred  aegis  of  Washing 
ton;  their  course  was  approved  by  the  pulpit  and 
the  enlightened  press;  they  enjoyed  the  sympathy 
of  the  college  professors  and  the  scholarship  and 
culture  of  the  country ;  and  received  the  encourage 
ment  of  the  commercial  interests.  The  Federalist 
was  "  the  gentlemen's  party."  Jefferson's  party 
/  was  called  the  rabble, — the  mob. 

In   New   England   a   Democrat  had  no  caste. 
276 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

Every  speculator,  scoffer,  and  atheist ;  every  thief, 
forger,  and  burglar,  was  a  follower  of  Jefferson. 
John  Adams  represented  the  aristocracy,  the  re 
spectable  conservatism — what  has  often  been  de 
scribed  as  "  the  better  sentiment" — of  New  Eng 
land;  narrow,  bigoted,  selfish,  and  egotistical,  but 
at  the  same  time  intellectual,  moral,  enterprising, 
and  patriotic,  devoted  to  the  love  of  country,  kin, 
and  a  revealed  religion.  President  Adams  did  not 
anticipate  the  possibility  of  his  defeat  for  a  second 
term,  not  even  after  Aaron  Burr  carried  the  State 
of  New  York  for  the  Republican  candidates  and 
captured  the  Legislature  in  the  May  preceding 
the  Presidential  election.  Why  should  John  Adams 
fear  the  voice  of  his  enemies  when  an  act  of  Con 
gress  authorized  him  to  punish  people  who  wrote 
or  published  anything  discreditable  to  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  by  fining  them  two 
thousand  dollars  and  sending  them  to  jail  for  two 
years  ?  Thislaw^Jntended  for  his  protection,  was 
one  of  th 

[n  1 798  "effersoneared  that  New  England 
intended  to  secede  from  the  Union  and  return  to 
the  allegiance  of  the  king.  "  We  are  completely 
under  the  saddle  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecti 
cut,"  he  wrote,  "  and  they  ride  us  very  hard,  cruelly 
insulting  our  feelings,  as  well  as  exhausting  our 
strength  and  substance.  Their  natural  friencfcs 
the  three  other  eastern  states  join  them  from  a 
sort  of  family  pride,  and  they  have  the  art  to 
divide  certain  other  parts  of  the  union  so  as  to 
make  use  of  them  to  govern  the  whole.  This 
is  not  new.  It  is  the  old  practice  of  despots  to 
use  a  part  of  the  people  to  keep  the  rest  in  order, 
and  those  who  have  once  got  an  ascendency  and 
possessed  themselves  of  all  the  resources  of  the 
nation,  their  revenues  and  offices,  have  immense 

277 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

means  for  retaining  their  advantages.  But  our 
present  situation  is  not  a  natural  one.  The  body 
of  our  countrymen  is  substantially  republican 
through  every  part  of  the  Union.  It  was  the 
irresistable  influence  &  popularity  of  Gen.  Wash 
ington,  played  off  by  the  cunning  of  Hamilton, 
which  turned  the  government  over  to  the  anti- 
republican  hands,  or  turned  the  republican  mem 
bers,  chosen  by  the  people  into  antirepublicans. 
He  delivered  it  over  to  his  successor  in  this  state, 
and  very  untoward  events,  since  improved  with 
great  artifice,  have  produced  on  the  public  mind 
the  impression  we  see;  but  still  I  repeat  it,  this 
is  not  the  natural  state. 

"  If  to  rid  ourselves  of  the  present  rule  of 
Massachusetts  &  Connecticut  we  break  the  Union, 
will  the  evil  stop  there?  Suppose  the  N.  England 
states  alone  cut  off,  will  our  natures  be  changed? 
are  we  not  men  still  to  the  south  of  that,  &  with 
all  the  passions  of  men?  Immediately  we  shall 
see  a  Pennsylvania  &  Virginia  party  arise  in  the 
residuary  confederacy,  and  the  public  mind  will 
be  distracted  with  the  same  party  spirit.  What 
a  game,  too,  will  the  one  party  have  in  their  hands 
by  eternally  threatening  the  other  that  unless  they 
do  so  &  so,  they  will  join  our  northern  neigh 
bors.  If  we  reduce  our  Union  to  Virginia  &  N. 
Carolina,  immediately  the  conflict  will  be  estab 
lished  between  the  representatives  of  these  two 
States,  and  they  will  end  by  breaking  into  their 
simple  units." 

The  first  National  Convention  to  nominate  a 
Presidential  ticket  was  held  at  Baltimore  in  1835. 
Until  that  year  the  candidates  were  selected  by  a 
caucus  of  Congressmen.  Sometimes  nominations 
were  made  by  the  Legislatures  of  the  States.  In 
1800  no  caucus  or  convention  was  necessary  be- 

278 


JEFFERSON  AS   A   POLITICIAN 

cause  the  contestants  and  the  issues  were  selected 
by  the  people,  who  realized  that  the  time  had  come 
to  determine  the  destiny  of  the  new  republic.  Jef 
ferson's  busy  pen  had  framed  the  indictment  upon 
which  the  Federalist  government  was  to  be  tried, 
and  he  appeared  as  the  attorney  for  the  people  to 
conduct  the  prosecution.  John  Adams,  represent 
ing  the  aristocracy,  the  learning,  the  wealth  of 
the  country,  who  were  responsible  for  the  govern 
ment  during  the  first  fifteen  years  of  its  existence, 
was  the  defendant,  and  the  population  of  sixteen 
States  sat  on  the  jury. 

The  Congressional  caucuses  selected  Aaron  Burr 
and  Charles  C.  Pinckney  as  candidates  for  Vice- 
Fresident  on  their  respective  tickets,  but  under  the 
elective  system  of  the  day  the  person  having  the 
second  largest  number  of  votes  was  entitled  to 
that  office,  regardless  of  his  politics.  A  popular 
misunderstanding  of  this  law  produced  a  situation 
that  was  both  dramatic  and  embarrassing.  Adams, 
the  Federalist  candidate  for  President,  was  de 
feated,  but  Jefferson,  and  Burr,  his  candidate  for 
Vice-President,  received  an  equal  number  of  votes. 
No  one  had  named  Colonel  Burr  for  the  Presi 
dency.  No  ballot  had  been  intentionally  cast  for 
him  as  a  candidate  for  that  office.  He  had  not 
even  been  an  aspirant  for  the  honor.  He  had 
been  named  for  the  Vice-Presidency  at  Jefferson's 
suggestion  because  of  his  brilliant  victory  over 
the  New  York  Federalists  in  a  State  campaign; 
and  the  possibility  of  his  coming  before  the  elec 
toral  college  as  a  rival  of  his  chief  does  not  seem 
to  have  occurred  to  anybody  until  the  startling 
fact  appeared.  Colonel  Burr  understood  the  situa 
tion  and  could  have  relieved  it  by  a  frank  and 
manly  acknowledgment,  but  preferred  to  take  ad 
vantage  of  the  accident  and  compete  for  the  prize 

279 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

with  his  chief  before  Congress,  which  was  then  the 
electoral  college  as  well  as  the  legislative  branch 
of  the  government. 

The  Federalists  and  other  enemies  of  Jefferson 
did  not  lose  the  opportunity  to  make  mischief,  and 
played  with  Burr's  unholy  ambition  to  the  extent 
of  their  ability.  It  cannot  be  said  that  Colonel 
Burr  was  an  active  participant  in  the  conspiracy 
to  defeat  the  popular  will,  and  it  is  undoubtedly 
true,  as  claimed  by  his  defenders,  that  he  refused 
to  enter  into  a  bargain  with  the  Federalists  to 
retain  their  friends  in  office  as  the  price  of  their 
support.  Jefferson  himself  gives  Burr  credit  for 
resisting  that  temptation,  but  the  latter  remained 
silent  and  in  seclusion  a  long  distance  from  Wash 
ington  and  allowed  himself  to  be  used  as  a  passive 
tool  of  the  opposition  to  defeat  the  purpose  of 
his  own  party.  The  dead-lock  continued  for  seven 
days,  until  on  the  thirty-sixth  ballot  Jefferson  re 
ceived  the  votes  of  ten  States  and  Burr  those  of 
four.  The  votes  of  two  States  were  blank. 

During  the  election  in  Congress  Jefferson  seems 
to  have  occupied  his  mind  in  the  study  of  natural 
history  and  other  sciences,  for  we  find  him  writing 
to  his  friends  upon  such  subjects  as  the  bones 
of  the  mammoth,  the  effect  of  cold  on  human 
happiness,  the  influence  of  the  moon  upon  the 
weather,  the  temperature  of  moonbeams,  the  na 
tivity  of  the  turkey,  the  cause  of  circles  around 
the  moon,  and  the  narrow  range  of  the  Indian 
vocabulary. 

That  he  was  tempted  by  his  opponents  with 
offers  of  compromise  we  know,  because  five  years 
later  he  notes  that  "  while  the  Presidential  election 
was  in  suspense  in  Congress  .  .  coming  out  of 
the  Senate  chamber  one  day,  I  found  Gouverneur 
Morris  on  the  steps.  He  stopped  me  and  began 

280 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

a  conversation  on  the  strange  and  portentous  state 
of  things  then  existing,  and  went  on  to  observe 
that  the  reasons  why  a  minority  of  States  was 
so  opposed  to  my  being  elected  were  that  they 
apprehended  that  I  would  turn  all  Federalists 
out  of  office;  2  put  down  the  navy;  3  wipe  out 

the  public  debt;  4 [part  of  the  page  is  torn 

out].  That  I  only  need  to  declare  or  authorize 
my  friends  to  declare  that  I  would  not  take  these 
steps,  and  instantly  the  election  would  be  fixed." 

Jefferson  told  Morris  that  he  would  make  no 
terms  and  "  would  never  go  into  office  of  presi 
dent  by  capitulation  nor  with  my  hands  tied  by 
any  conditions  which  should  keep  me  from  per- 
suing  the  measures  which  I  should  deem  for  the 
public  good." 

About  the  same  time,  he  says,  a  similar  sugges 
tion  was  made  to  him  by  President  Adams,  to 
whom  he  replied  that  "  the  world  must  judge  as 
to  myself  of  the  future  by  the  past,"  and  turned 
the  conversation  to  another  topic.  Again,  during 
the  dead-lock,  Dwight  Foster,  of  Massachusetts, 
"  called  at  my  room  one  night,  and  went  into  a 
long  conversation  on  the  state  of  affairs,  the  drift 
of  which  was  to  let  me  understand  that  the  fears 
above  mentioned  were  the  only  obstacles  to  my 
election,  to  all  of  which  I  avoided  giving  any 
answer  one  way  or  the  other." 

For  months  prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  nine 
teenth  century  the  newspapers,  both  Federalist  and 
Republican,  had  been  engaged  in  heated  discussions 
of  the  issues  of  the  pending  Presidential  campaign ; 
yet  so  meagre  were  the  facilities  for  the  trans 
mission  of  news  that  the  most  enterprising  paper 
in  Philadelphia  was  not  able  to  announce  the  offi 
cial  result  of  the  election  until  the  morning  of 
February  20,  three  days  after  it  had  been  declared 

281 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

in  Washington,  and  then  only  in  two  brief  para 
graphs.  Two  days  later  the  same  brief  announce 
ment  was  made  in  the  New  York  papers.  The 
following  appeared  in  the  Philadelphia  Aurora  of 
February  20,  1801 : 

"  THOMAS   JEFFERSON— PRESIDENT, 

AND 

"  AARON    BURR— VICE  PRESIDENT. 

"  BALTIMORE,  February  17. — An  express  from  General 
Smith  arrived  in  the  city  at  three-quarters  past  seven  this 
evening,  announcing  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  I  have 
seen  the  letter ;  you  may  depend  on  the  information  to  be 
correct.  The  cannon  are  now  firing.  I.  WRIGHT." 

A  second  announcement  in  the  Aurora  contained 
a  thrust  at  the  defeated  Federalists  in  the  closing 
paragraph : 

"FROM   WASHINGTON. 

"  FEBRUARY  18,  1801. — Yesterday,  precisely  at  twelve 
o'clock,  the  election  of  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr 
was  announced  by  the  firing  of  the  cannon  in  the  arsenal 
by  the  artillery  company  commanded  by  Capt.  Chaw. 

"  Yesterday  the  bells  at  Christ  church  kept  constantly 
tolling  for  the  death  of  the  British  faction  in  this  country. 
Requiescat  in  pace.  Amen!" 

During  the  dead-lock  in  Congress  Joseph  Cooper 
Nicholson,  of  Maryland,  was  dangerously  ill  and 
attended  by  physicians,  who  feared  that  the  ex 
posure  and  excitement  might  be  fatal  to  him,  but 
was  carried  to  the  Capitol.  A  bed  was  prepared 
for  him  in  one  of  the  anterooms,  where  his  heroic 
wife  attended  him  during  five  days  and  nights 
of  balloting.  Supported  by  stimulants,  with  great 
difficulty  he  feebly  traced  the  name  of  Jefferson 
upon  a  slip  of  paper  when  the  ballot-box  was  passed 
around.  Nicholson  survived  and  afterwards  sat 
as  presiding  judge  of  the  Baltimore  Court  of 
Appeals.  Mrs.  Nicholson  was  a  sister  of  the  wife 

282 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

of  Francis  Scott  Key,  author  of  the  "  Star-Span 
gled  Banner." 

It  was  one  of  the  strangest  as  well  as  one  of 
the  most  dramatic  incidents  in  history  that  Alex 
ander  Hamilton  should  have  been  the  chief  instru 
ment  to  assist  Jefferson  in  reaching  the  summit 
of  his  ambition, — the  Presidency  of  the  United 
States.  During  the  dead-lock  Hamilton  exercised 
his  powerful  authority  over  several  Federalists  in 
Congress,  and  finally  persuaded  two  members 
from  Maryland  and  one  from  Delaware  (the 
grandfather  of  the  late  Secretary  Bayard)  to  cast 
blank  ballots  and  the  member  from  Vermont  to 
remain  away.  Thus  Jefferson  was  elected  "  with 
out  any  change  of  votes,"  as  he  afterwards  de 
clared  with  gratification.  It  was  not  because  Ham 
ilton  had  more  faith  in  Jefferson,  but  because  he 
had  less  faith  in  Burr,  for  whom  he  had  acquired 
a  positive  abhorrence.  He  knew  that  Jefferson 
was  loyal.  He  felt  that  Burr  was  not,  and  future 
events  demonstrated  the  sagacity  of  his  judgment. 
It  was  Burr's  resentment  of  Hamilton's  inter 
vention  in  this  contest  that  led  him  to  seize  upon 
a  trivial  pretext  to  force  Hamilton  into  the  duel 
which  followed  soon  after. 

Jefferson  observed  the  exciting  contest  in  Con 
gress  over  the  Presidency  with  composure,  and 
from  his  conversation  and  correspondence  one 
would  suppose  him  to  have  been  the  most  dis 
interested  man  in  Washington.  Indeed,  there  is 
very  little  in  his  manuscripts  referring  to  this  most 
critical  crisis  of  his  career.  During  the  campaign 
preceding  the  Presidential  election  Jefferson  with 
drew  to  Monticello  and  refused  to  take  an  active 
part  in  the  canvass.  "  I  cease  from  this  time," 
he  wrote  John  Taylor  under  date  of  November 
26,  1799,  "to  write  political  letters,  knowing  that 

283 


THE  TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

a  campaign  of  slander  is  now  to  open  upon  me, 
and  believing  that  the  postmasters  will  lend  their 
inquisitorial  aid  to  fish  out  any  new  matter  of 
slandery  they  can  to  gratify  the  powers  that  be. 
I  hope  my  friends  will  understand  and  approve 
the  matter  motives  of  my  silence."  While  the 
excitement  over  the  dead-lock  was  at  its  height, 
he  wrote  his  son-in-law,  Thomas  Mann  Randolph, 
as  follows :  "  I  do  sincerely  wish  to  be  the  second 
on  that  vote  rather  than  the  first.  The  considera 
tions  which  induce  this  preference  are  solid, 
whether  viewed  with  relation  to  interest,  happi 
ness  or  reputation.  Ambition  is  long  since  dead 
in  my  mind,  yet  even  a  well  weighed  ambition 
would  take  the  same  side.  My  new  threshing 
machine  will  be  tried  this  week.  P.  Carr  is  on 
the  point  of  marriage.  All  are  well  here  and  join 
in  the  hope  of  your  continuing  so." 

On  February  12,  1801,  the  second  day  of  the 
dead-lock,  he  writes  in  his  diary:  "Edward 
Livingston  tells  me  that  Bayard  [Representative 
from  Delaware]  applied  to-day  or  last  night  to 
Gen.  Samuel  Smith  [Representative  from  Mary 
land]  and  represented  to  him  the  expediency  of 
his  coming  over  to  the  States  who  vote  for 
Burr,  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  way  of  ap 
pointments  which  he  might  not  command,  and 
particularly  mentioned  the  Secretaryship  of  the 
Navy  [to  which  office  Smith's  brother  was  after 
wards  appointed  by  Jefferson].  Smith  asked  him 
if  he  was  authorized  to  make  the  offer.  He  said 
he  was  authorized.  Smith  told  this  to  Livingston 
and  to  W9.  C.  Nicolas  [Representative  from  Vir 
ginia]  who  confirms  it  to  me.  Bayard  in  like 
manner  tempted  Livingston  not  by  offering  any 
particular  office,  but,  by  representing  to  him  his 
L's  intimacy  and  connection  with  Burr,  that  from 

284 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

him  he  had  everything  to  expect,  if  he  would  come 
over  to  him.  To  Dr.  Linn  of  N.  Jersey  they  have 
offered  the  government  of  N.  Jersey.  See  a  para 
graph  in  Martin's  Baltimore  paper  of  February 
10  signed  a  looker  on;  stating  an  intimacy  of 
views  between  Harper  and  Burr." 

There  is  no  entry  in  the  diary  for  February  13, 
but  on  February  14,  about  the  middle  of  the  con 
test,  this  appears :  "  Genl  Armstrong  tells  me  that 
Gouvernr  Morris  in  conversation  with  him  today 
on  the  scene  which  is  passing  expressed  himself 
thus.  How  comes  it,  sais  he,  that  Burr,  who  is 
400  miles  off  at  Albany  has  agents  here  at  work 
with  great  activity,  while  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  is 
on  the  spot  does  nothing.  This  explains  the  am 
biguous  conduct  of  himself  and  his  nephew  Lewis 
Morris,  and  that  they  are  holding  themselves  free 
for  a  prize,  i.e.  some  office,  either  for  the  uncle 
or  nephew." 

Two  days  later,  February  16:  "  See  in  the  Wil 
mington  Mirror  of  Feb  14  Mr.  Bayard's  elaborate 
argument  to  prove  that  the  common  law,  as  modi 
fied  by  the  laws  of  the  respective  states  at  the  epoch 
of  the  ratificn  of  the  constn,  attached  to  the  courts 
of  the  U.  S." 

Here  the  diary  was  dropped  until  March  8,  1801, 
four  days  after  the  inauguration,  when  Jefferson 
begins  a  continuous  memoranda,  mostly  about 
office  seekers.  -^ 

To  understand  Jefferson's  position  as  leader  and 
teacher  of  the  Democratic  party,  one  must  realize 
the  bitter  hostility  to  him  and  the  distrust  of  the 
Federalists,  and  particularly  the  bankers,  mer^ 
chants,  and  men  of  property  throughout  the  new 
Union.  The  Federalist  newspapers  and  orators 
had  represented  him  as  a  monster  whose  appetite 
for  blood  had  not  been  satiated  during  the  French 

285 


THE  TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

Revolution,  and  they  demanded  the  exercise  of 
the  authority  of  the  government  to  prevent  him 
from  exciting  the  people  to  excesses  similar  to 
those  committed  by  his  friends  and  admirers  in 
France.  Even  Fisher  Ames,  the  most  brilliant 
orator  and  one  of  the  ablest  and  fairest  Federal 
ists  in  all  New  England,  told  the  people  that  Jeffer 
son  belonged  to  the  "  sans  culottes,"  and  predicted 
that  the  democracy  he  advocated  would  be  gov 
erned  by  vice  and  folly.  Ames  saw  "  the  dismal 
glare  of  the  burnings;"  he  heard  "the  clank  of 
chains  and  the  whispers  of  assassins,"  "  the  bar 
barous  dissonance  of  mingled  rage  and  triumph 
in  the  yell  of  an  infuriated  mob,"  and  scented 
"  the  loathsome  steam  of  human  victims  offered  in 
sacrifice."  His  days,  he  said,  were  "  heavy  with  the 
pressure  of  anxiety,  and  our  nights  restless  with 
visions  of  horror."  "  What  has  happened  in 
France,"  he  declared,  "  must  sooner  or  later  hap 
pen  in  America  if  a  democratic  government  was 
established,  for  this  is  ordained  for  democracy." 
And  as  a  sample  of  the  published  opinions  of  the 
Federalist  press  we  have  a  paragraph  from  Den- 
nie's  Portfolio,  which  reads :  "  A  democracy  is 
scarcely  tolerable  at  any  period  of  national  his 
tory.  Its  omens  are  always  sinister,  and  its  powers 
are  unpropitious.  It  is  on  trial  here  [this  was 
in  1803]  and  the  issue  will  be  civil  war,  deso 
lation  and  anarchy.  No  wise  man  but  discerns 
its  imperfections;  no  good  man  but  shudders  at 
its  miseries;  no  honest  man  but  proclaims  its 
frauds;  and  no  brave  man  but  draws  his  sword 
against  its  force." 

Jefferson  was  a  man  of  high  ideals,  and  he  was 
often  embarrassed  by  the  apparent  inconsistency 
between  his  professions  and  his  practices.  When 
one  first  reads  the  confidential  note-book  which 

286 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

he  called  his  "  Anas"  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
resist  the  inclination  to  question  his  integrity. 
These  odious  records  of  malicious  gossip,  accepted 
from  all  sorts  of  irresponsible  sources,  and  set 
down  as  truth,  show  that  he  either  had  a  craving 
for  scandal  or  that  his  credulity  was  greater  than 
his  intelligence.  With  the  training  of  a  lawyer 
and  a  skilful  analyst  of  the  motives  of  men,  he 
could  not  have  believed  his  own  statements,  and 
must  have  foreseen  that  their  publication,  which 
he  deliberately  planned,  would  damage  his  own 
reputation  even  more  than  the  men  he  slandered. 
One  of  his  own  biographers  has  said  that  "  the 
writing  of  the  Anas  was  one  of  the  meanest  acts 
recorded  by  history,"  and  that  "  they  impaired 
his  own  good  name  more  than  all  the  other  mis 
takes  of  his  life  and  all  the  assaults  of  his  enemies." 
He  proved  the  truth  of  the  saying  of  a  wise  man 
that  "It  is  not  what  others  say  of  one,  but  what 
one  says  himself  that  does  him  the  greater  injury." 

The  facts  seem  to  be  that  with  all  his  intellectual 
ability  and  learning,  all  his  wit  and  penetration, 
all  his  subtle  skill  as  a  politician,  all  his  experience 
and  knowledge  of  men,  all  his  pure  and  deep  con 
victions  of  liberty  and  justice,  Jefferson  had  a  low 
opinion  of  mankind.  He  watched  with  mistrust 
all  who  differed  from  him;  he  suspected  the  hon 
esty  of  their  motives  and  was  ready  to  accept  as 
true  all  the  evil  reports  that  came  to  him  con 
cerning  them. 

His  belief  in  the  sublime  doctrine  of  civil  and  re 
ligious  liberty  was  so  deeply  imbedded  in  his  nature 
that  he  was  always  alert  to  detect  and  resist  scepti 
cism  in  men  who  were  not  so  enthusiastic  as  him 
self.  His  suspicious  disposition  saw  a  conspiracy  in 
every  conference  of  his  political  opponents,  and 
the  measures  they  proposed  were  plots  against  his 

287 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

cherished  institutions.  Their  opposition  to  his 
plans  was  easily  magnified  into  a  conspiracy 
against  the  rights  of  the  people  for  whose  defence 
and  protection  he  assumed  responsibility,  until  he 
became  a  monomaniac  upon  the  subject  of  mon 
archy,  and  even  accused  Washington  of  treason. 
There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  his  suspicions 
were  sincere.  His  ceaseless  reiteration  of  the  trea 
sonable  designs  of  the  Federalists  must  have  con 
vinced  him  of  the  accuracy  of  his  own  imagina 
tion,  as  many  people  come  to  believe  a  fiction  they 
have  themselves  invented  after  repeating  it  a  few 
times  as  a  fact.  Therefore,  taking  Jefferson's  point 
of  view,  and  considering  his  intense  feeling  upon 
subjects  that  interested  him,  one  is  led  to  contem 
plate  his  "  Anas"  and  other  questionable  acts  with 
greater  charity.  He  may  have  been  actuated  by 
honorable  motives  and  a  zeal  in  the  defence  of 
his  country  that  a  century  later  seems  excessive 
and  unnecessary. 

His  plans  of  government  were  acquired  from 
the  French  revolutionists.  He  was  a  profound 
believer  in  the  accuracy  of  the  popular  judgment. 
"  It  is  rare  that  public  sentiment  decides  immor 
ally  and  unwisely,"  said  this  sage,  who  had  wit 
nessed  the  French  Revolution,  "  and  the  indi 
vidual  who  differs  from  it  ought  to  distrust  and 
re-examine  well  his  own  opinions."  His  experi 
ences  during  the  bloody  and  furious  scenes  in 
France  do  not  seem  to  have  disturbed  this  con 
fidence,  but  made  him  firmer  in  his  faith.  He 
advocated  frequent  debate, — the  discussion  of 
public  questions  to  arouse  interest  and  educate 
the  masses.  "  The  force  of  public  opinion  can 
not  be  resisted  when  permitted  to  be  freely  ex 
pressed.  The  agitation  it  produces  must  be  sub 
mitted  to.  It  is  necessary  to  keep  the  waters 

288 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 


pure."  His  egotism  was  surpassed  only  by  his 
faith  in  the  people.  His  confidence  in  them  was 
only  exceeded  by  his  confidence  in  himself.  The 
ancient  fallacy  that  the  voice  of  the  people  is  the 
voice  of  God  was  the  fundamental  principle  in  his 
political  creed,  even  if  it  were  the  clamor  of  a 
mob;  and  he  was  its  authorized  interpreter.  To 
him  the  possession  of  power  by  others  was  wrong 
and  its  exercise  tyranny,  because  they  were  not 
the  friends  of  the  people,  but  the  possession  and 
exercise  of  power  by  himself  was  right,  because 
he  was  actuated  by  benevolence  and  considered 
only  the  welfare  of  his  fellow-men. 
)l  In  a  letter  to  Elbridge  Gerry  in  the  campaign 
(l  which  ended  with  his  election  to  the  Presidency 
'he  explained  his  political  principles  as  follows  : 

/  "  I  do  then,  with  sincere  zeal,  wish  an  inviolable 
preservation  of  our  Federal  Constitution,  according 
to  the  true  sense  in  which  it  was  adopted  by  the 
States. 

¥"\  am  opposed  to  monarchizing  its  features. 
I  am  opposed  to  a  president  and  a  Senate  for  life. 
-2^"  I  am  for  preserving  to  the  States  the  powers 
not  yielded  by  them  to  the  Union,  and  to  the  Legis 
lature  of  the  Union  its  constitutional  share  of  the 
division  of  powers. 

"  I  am  not  for  transferring  all  the  powers  of 
the  States  to  the  General  Government,  and  all  those 
of  that  Government  to  the  Executive  branch. 

I  am  for  a  government  rigorously  frugal  and 
imple,  applying  all  the  possible  savings  of  the 
public  revenue  to  the  discharge  of  the  national 
debt,  and  not  for  a  multiplication  of  officers  and 
salaries  merely  to  make  partisans. 

"  I  am  not  for  increasing  the  public  debt  on  the 
principle  that  it  is  a  public  blessing. 

"  I  am  for  relying  for  internal  defence  on  our 


19 


289 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

militia  solely,  till  actual  invasion,  and  for  such  a 
naval  force  only  as  may  protect  our  coasts  and 
harbors  from  such  depredations  as  we  have  ex 
perienced. 

"  I  am  not  for  a  standing  army  in  time  of  peace, 
which  may  overawe  public  sentiment;  nor  for  a 
navy  which,  by  its  own  expenses  and  the  eternal 
wars  in  which  it  will  implicate  us,  will  grind  us 
with  public  burdens  and  sink  us  under  them. 

"  I  am  for  free  commerce  with  all  nations ;  po 
litical  connections  with  none,  and  little  or  no  diplo 
matic  establishment. 

"  I  am  not  for  linking  ourselves  by  new  treaties 
with  the  quarrels  of  Europe;  entering  that  field 
of  slaughter  to  preserve  their  balance  or  joining 
in  the  confederacy  of  kings  to  war  against  the 
principles  of  liberty. 

"  I  am  for  freedom  of  religion,  and  against  all 
manouvres  to  bring  about  a  legal  ascendency  of 
one  sect  over  another;  for  freedom  of  the  press, 
and  against  all  violations  of  the  Constitution,  to 
silence  by  force  and  not  by  reason  the  complaints 
or  criticisms,  just  or  unjust,  of  our  citizens  against 
the  conduct  of  their  agents. 

"  And  I  am  for  encouraging  the  progress  of 
science  in  all  its  branches  and  not  for  raising  a 
hugh  and  cry  against  the  sacred  name  of  philoso 
phy;  or  for  awing  the  human  mind  by  stories 
of  raw-head  and  bloody  bones  to  the  distrust  of 
its  own  visions,  and  to  impose  implicitly  on  that 
of  others  to  go  backwards  instead  of  forwards  to 
look  for  improvement ;  to  believe  that  government, 
religion,  morality,  and  every  other  science  were 
in  the  highest  perfection  in  the  ages  of  the  darkest 
ignorance,  and  that  nothing  can  ever  be  devised 
more  perfect  than  what  was  established  by  our 
forefathers. 

290 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

"  To  these  I  will  add,  that  I  was  a  sincere  well- 
wisher  to  the  success  of  the  French  Revolution, 
and  still  wish  it  may  end  in  the  establishment  of 
a  free  and  well-ordered  republic;  but  I  have  not 
been  insensible  under  the  atrocious  depredations 
they  have  committed  on  our  commerce. 

"  The  first  object  of  my  heart  is  my  country. 
In  that  is  embarked  my  family,  my  fortunes  and 
my  own  existence.  I  have  not  one  farthing  of 
interest,  nor  one  fiber  of  attachment  out  of  it, 
nor  a  single  motive  of  preference  of  any  one 
nation  to  another,  but  in  proportion  as  they  are 
more  or  less  friendly  to  us.  ...  These  are  my 
principles." 

In  his  voluminous  writings  we  can  ascertain  his 
opinions  upon  every  conceivable  subject  that  occu 
pied  the  attention  of  mankind  during  the  period 
of  his  life.XNo  public  man  was  ever  so  free  and 
so  frank  in  declaring  his  views,  although  they  were 
frequently  modified  with  passing  years  and 
changing  circumstances.  He  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  afraid  of  the  charge  of  inconsistency. 
He  seemed  to  have  felt  the  truth  of  the  old  adage 
that  "  A  wise  man  often  changes  his  mind,  but  a 
fool  never."  Hence  it  is  that  Jefferson  is  quoted 
upon  different  sides  of  so  many  subjects. 

For  the  convenience  of  those  who  seek  wisdom 
in  his  teachings  the  letters  and  other  writings  of 
Jefferson  have  been  compiled  in  various  forms, 
including  a  massive  encyclopaedia  in  which  his 
views  on  a  thousand  different  topics  have  been 
extracted  from  his  letters  and  admirably  arranged 
in  alphabetical  order  like  a  dictionary.  >  The  fol 
lowing  are  some  of  the  most  important  of  his 
political  maxims,  and  most  of  them  are  as  applic 
able  to-day  as  they  were  a  century  ago: 

"  All  authority  belongs  to  the  people." 
291 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

"  Republican  is  the  only  form  of  government 
which  is  not  eternally  at  open  or  secret  war  with 
the  rights  of  mankind." 

"  I  am  for  a  government  rigorously  frugal  and 
simple,  applying  all  the  possible  savings  of  the 
public  revenues  to  the  discharge  of  the  national 
debt." 

"  Frequent  elections  keep  Congress  right.  The 
legislative  and  the  executive  branches  of  the  gov 
ernment  may  err,  but  frequent  elections  will  set 
them  right.  A  representative  government  respon 
sible  at  short  periods  of  elections,  produces  the 
greatest  sum  of  happiness  to  mankind." 

"  Absolute  acquiescence  in  the  decisions  of  the 
majority  is  the  vital  principle  of  the  republic,  from 
which  there  is  no  appeal  except  through  force,  the 
vital  principle  and  immediate  parent  of  despot 
ism." — First  "Inaugural  Address." 

He  was  opposed  to  continuous  service  in  Con 
gress,  and  introduced  a  bill  providing  that  "  no  per 
son  who  shall  have  served  two  years  in  Congress 
shall  be  capable  of  serving  therein  again  until  he 
shall  have  been  out  of  the  same  one  whole  year." 
This  was  rejected. 

Although  the  great  apostle  of  democracy  and 
the  doctrine  of  equality,  Jefferson  was  in  favor 
of  restricted  suffrage  based  upon  educational  and 
property  qualifications.  He  commends  the  con 
stitution  of  Spain  in  this  respect.  "  There  is  one 
provision  which  will  immortalize  its  inventors. 
It  is  that  which,  after  a  certain  epoch,  disfranchises 
every  citizen  who  can  not  read  and  write.  This 
is  new  and  is  a  fruitful  germ  of  the  improvement 
of  everything  good."  In  the  constitution  which 
he  prepared  for  Virginia  and  which  was  not 
adopted  because  it  came  to  the  convention  too  late, 
he  prescribed  a  property  qualification  for  voters, 

292 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

one-fourth  of  an  acre  in  towns  or  twenty-five  acres 
of  farming  land. 

He  was  opposed  to  the  appointment  of  aliens 
or  foreigners  in  the  consular  service.  "  Native 
citizens,"  he  said,  "  on  several  accounts  are  prefer 
able  to  aliens  or  citizens  alien  born.  They  possess 
our  language  and  know  our  laws,  customs  and 
commerce,  give  better  standing  and  are  more  to 
be  relied  upon." 

He  advocated  a  uniform  for  consuls,  and  when 
Secretary  of  State  allowed  them  to  wear  the  uni 
form  of  the  navy,  "  a  deep  blue  coat  with  red 
facings,  lining  and  cuffs,  the  cuffs  slashed,  and 
a  standing  collar;  a  red  waistcoat,  laced  or  not 
at  the  election  of  the  wearer,  and  blue  breeches; 
yellow  buttons,  a  foul  anchor,  black  cockade  and 
small  swords." 

Jefferson  advocated  a  constitutional  amendment 
for  the  election  of  the  President  by  a  direct  vote 
of  the  people  by  States.  "  The  ticket  having  a 
plurality  of  the  votes  of  any  State  to  be  considered 
as  receiving  thereby  the  vote  of  the  State,  and  the 
successful  candidate  to  receive  the  votes  of  a  ma 
jority  of  the  States." 

He  was  much  opposed  to  a  third  term  for  the 
Presidency,  and  advocated  an  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  providing  for  only  one  term  of  seven 
years. 

Jefferson  had  a  very  exalted  opinion  of  the 
veto  power  and  the  pardoning  power  as  possessed 
by  the  President.  He  held  that  a  court,  believing 
a  law  to  be  constitutional,  had  a  right  to  pass 
a  sentence  because  the  power  was  placed  in  its 
hands  by  the  Constitution;  but  the  executive,  be 
lieving  a  law  to  be  unconstitutional,  was  bound 
to  prevent  its  execution  because  the  power  and 
responsibility  had  been  confided  to  him  by  the 

293 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

Constitution.  That  instrument,  he  said,  in  a  letter 
dated  September  n,  1804,  "  meant  that  its  coordi 
nate  branches  should  be  checks  on  each  other,  but 
the  opinion  which  gives  to  the  judges  the  right 
to  decide  what  laws  are  constitutional,  and  what 
not,  not  only  for  themselves  in  their  own  sphere 
of  action,  but  for  the  legislature  and  executive 
also  in  their  spheres,  would  make  the  judiciary 
a  despotic  branch.'^ 

Jefferson  differed  from  President  Cleveland  in 
his  views  of  the  relation  between  the  President  and 
the  Senate.  He  agreed  with  President  McKinley 
that  members  of  Congress  should  be  consulted 
in  the  distribution  of  patronage  as  the  representa 
tives  of  the  people,  because  of  their  better  knowl 
edge  of  the  men,  local  conditions  and  circum 
stances,  and  the  requirements  of  the  offices.  He 
also  took  the  ground  that  the  President  had  the 
authority  only  to  "  propose"  officers  to  the  Senate, 
and  the  latter  body,  by  confirming  the  nominations, 
not  only  had  equal  responsibility  but  the  final  exer 
cise  of  the  appointing  power.  On  the  other  hand, 
"the  Senate,"  he  said,  in  his  opinion  upon  the 
powers  of  that  body,  "  is  not  supposed  by  the  con 
stitution  to  be  acquainted  with  the  concerns  of  the 
executive  departments.  It  was  not  intended  that 
these  should  be  communicated  to  them." 

Jefferson  defeated  the  plan  of  allowing  members 
of  the  Cabinet  to  attend  the  sessions  of  the  House 
and  explain  legislation.  He  said  that  it  was  an 
unlawful  exercise  of  influence  of  the  executive  over 
the  legislative  branch  of  the  government. 

He  proposed  as  an  article  for  the  Virginia  con 
stitution  that  "The  legislative,  executive  and  ju 
dicial  offices  shall  be  kept  forever  separate.  iSFo 
person  exercising  the  one  shall  be  capable  of  ap 
pointment  to  the  other,  or  to  either  of  them." 

294 


j^~^~V 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

Jefferson  was  violent  in  his  opposition  to  banks 
of  all  kinds.  Washington  called  upon  the  members 
of  his  Cabinet  for  written  opinions  on  the  consti 
tutionality  of  a  bill  establishing  a  government 
bank.  Those  of  Hamilton,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  and  General  Knox,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  were  in  favor  of  the  act.  Those  of  Jeffer 
son,  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  Randolph,  the 
Attorney-General,  were  against  it.  Jefferson  had 
written  volumes  on  the  subject  of  currency  and 
finance,  and  in  1814  he  said:  "From  the  estab 
lishment  of  the  United  States  Bank  to  this  day 
I  have  preached  against  the  system,  and  have  been 
sensible  that  no  cure  could  be  hoped  in  the  catas-  , 
trophy  now  happening."  To  another  he  wrote: 
"  I  do  not  know  whether  you  will  recollect  how 
loudly  my  voice  was  raised  against  the  establish 
ment  of  banks  from  the  beginning,  but  like  that  | 
of  Cassandra  it  was  not  listened  to.  I  was  set  j 
down  as  a  madman  by  those  who  have  since  been 
victims  to  them.  I  little  thought,  however,  I  was 
to  suffer  by  them  myself."  Originally  he  was 
opposed  to  the  issue  of  paper  money  by  the  gov 
ernment.  "  Interdict  forever,"  he  said,  "  to  both 
state  and  national  government  the  power  of  es 
tablishing  any  bank  proper,"  but  later  he  advocated 
treasury  notes  bearing  interest,  as  he  believed  they 
would  soon  be  withdrawn  from  circulation  "  and 
locked  up  in  private  hoards,  and  would  enable  the 
common  people  to  invest  their  savings."  In  1815 
to  Albert  Gallatin  he  writes,  "  Put  down  the  banks 
and  if  this  country  can  not  be  carried  through  the 
longest  war  against  the  most  powerful  enemy, 
without  ever  knowing  the  want  of  a  dollar,  with 
out  dependence  on  the  traitorous  classes  of  her 
citizens,  without  bearing  hard  on  the  resource  of 
the  people,  or  loading  the  public  with  an  infamous 

295 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

burden  of  debt,  I  know  nothing  of  my  country 
men."  He  advocated  the  issue  of  Treasury  notes 
"  bottomed  on  a  tax  which  would  redeem  them 
in  ten  years.  This,"  he  said,  "  would  place  at 
our  disposal  the  whole  circulating  medium  of  the 
United  States,  and  a  fund  of  credit  sufficient  to 
carry  us  through  anywhere." 

In  a  letter  to  his  son-in-law,  while  the  latter  was 
in  Congress,  he  wrote,  "  Specie  is  the  most  perfect 
medium  because  it  will  preserve  its  own  level, 
having  intrinsic  and  universal  value,  it  can  never 
die  in  our  hands,  and  it  is  the  surest  resource  of 
reliance  in  time  of  war."  Again  he  said,  "  A  great 
deal  of  small  change  is  useful  in  estates,  and 
tends  to  reduce  the  prices  of  small  articles."  He 
was  also  a  bimetallist.  In  1792  he  wrote  Alex 
ander  Hamilton,  "  I  concur  with  you  in  thinking 
that  the  union  must  stand  on  both  metals." 

He  believed  in  the  distribution  of  wealth  as  much 
as  possible.  "  If  the  overgrown  wealth  of  an  indi 
vidual  be  deemed  dangerous  to  the  State,  the  best 
corrective  is  the  law  of  equal  inheritance  to  all 
in  equal  degree;  and  the  better,  as  this  enforces 
a  law  of  nature,  while  extra  taxation  violates  it." 

Jefferson  was  in  favor  of  State  and  opposed 
to  federal  bankruptcy  laws.  He  considered  a  fed- 

Jl  bankruptcy  law  unconstitutional. 
Regarding  our  foreign  relations  he  said :  "  I 
KIIOW  that  it  is  a  maxim  with  us,  and  I  think  it 
is  a  wise  one,  not  to  entangle  ourselves  with  the 
affairs  of  Europe.  I  am  for  free  commerce  with 
all  nations,  political  connections  with  none,  and 
little  or  no  diplomatic  establishment."  «/ 

In  a  letter  to  President  Monroe  he/said :  "  Our 
first  and  fundamental  maxim  should  be  never  to 
entangle  ourselves  in  the  broils  of  Europe.  Our 
second,  never  to  suffer  Europe  to  intermeddle  with 

296 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

Cis-Atlantic  affairs.  America,  North  and  South, 
has  a  set  of  interests  distinct  from  those  of  Europe 
and  peculiarly  her  own.  She  should  therefore 
have  a  system  of  her  own,  separate  and  apart  from 
that  of  Europe." 

He  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  a  canal  across 
the  Isthmus  and  advocated  it  in  many  letters. 

"  It  is  not  the  policy  of  the  government  in 
America  to  give  aid  to  works  of  any  kind.  They 
let  things  take  their  natural  course  without  help 
or  impediment,  which  is  generally  the  best  pol- 
icy." 

Internal  improvements  was  one  of  his  hobbies. 
"I  experience/'  he  said,  " great  satisfaction  at 
seeing  my  country  proceed  to  facilitate  the  inter 
communication  of  its  several  parts,  by  opening 
rivers,  canals  and  roads.  How  much  more  ra 
tional  is  this  disposal  of  public  money  than  that 
of  waging  war." 

"  I  would  propose  a  constitutional  amendment 
for  authority  to  apply  the  surplus  taxes  to  objects 
of  internal  improvement." 

"  The  fondest  wish  of  my  heart  ever  was  that 
the  surplus  portion  of  these  taxes,  destined  for  the 
payment  of  the  revolutionary  debt,  should,  when 
that  object  was  accomplished,  be  continued  by 
annual  or  biennial  reenactment  and  applied,  in 
times  of  peace,  to  the  improvement  of  our  country 
by  canals,  roads  and  useful  institutions,  literary 
or  others." 

With  regard  to  commercial  intercourse  with 
foreign  nations  Jefferson  was  theoretically  a  free 
trader.  He  said :  "  Perfect  and  universal  free 
trade  is  one  of  the  natural  rights  of  man,  and  is 
the  only  sound  policy."  That  was  his  first  choice. 
His  second  was :  "  Free  trade  with  any  nation 
which  will  reciprocate."  Circumstances  growing 

297 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

out  of  the  wars  in  Europe  afterwards  made  him 
a  moderate  protectionist,  but  the  underlying  prin 
ciple  in  his  mind  was  a  broad  commercial  reci 
procity, — laws  and  treaties,  giving  and  getting 
commercial  concessions  wherever  they  were  to  our 
advantage,  with  retaliation  in  the  form  of  increased 
duties  and  restrictions  upon  the  products  of  na 
tions  which  were  unfriendly  or  unjust. 

"  Where  a  nation  imposes  high  duties  on  our 
productions,  or  prohibits  them  altogether,"  he  said, 
"  it  may  be  proper  for  us  to  do  the  same  by  them ; 
first  burdening  or  excluding  those  productions 
which  they  bring  here  in  competition  with  our 
own  of  the  same  kind;  selecting  next  such  manu 
factures  as  we  take  from  them  in  the  greatest 
quantity,  and  which  at  the  same  time  we  could 
the  soonest  furnish  to  ourselves  or  obtain  from 
other  countries;  imposing  on  them  duties  lighter 
at  first,  but  heavier  and  heavier  afterwards  as 
other  channels  of  supply  open.  Such  duties,  having 
the  effect  of  indirect  encouragement  to  domestic 
manufactures  of  the  same  kind,  may  induce  the 
manufacturer  to  come  himself  into  the  states, 
where  cheaper  subsistence,  equal  laws  and  a  vent 
of  his  wares,  free  of  duty,  may  insure  him  the 
highest  profits  from  his  skill  and  industry.  And 
here  it  will  be  in  the  power  of  the  state  governments 
to  cooperate  essentially  by  opening  the  resources 
of  encouragement  which  are  under  their  control, 
extending  them  liberally  to  artists  in  those  par 
ticular  branches  of  manufacture  for  which  their 
soil,  climate,  population  and  other  circumstances 
have  matured  them,  and  fostering  the  previous 
efforts  and  progress  of  household  manufacture  by 
some  patronage  suited  to  the  nature  of  its  object, 
guided  by  the  local  information  they  possess,  and 
guarded  against  abuse  by  their  presence  and  at- 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

tentions.  The  oppressions  on  our  agriculture,  in 
foreign  ports,  will  thus  be  made  the  occasion  of 
relieving  it  from  a  dependence  on  the  councils  and 
conduct  of  others,  and  for  promoting  arts,  manu 
factures  and  population  at  home." 

"  Instead  of  embarrassing  commerce  under  piles 
of  regulating  laws,  duties  and  prohibitions,  could 
it  be  relieved  from  all  its  shackles  in  all  parts  of 
the  world,  could  every  country  be  employed  in  pro 
ducing  that  which  nature  has  best  fitted  it  to  pro 
duce,  and  each  be  free  to  exchange  with  others 
mutual  surpluses  for  mutual  wants,  the  greatest 
mass  possible  would  then  be  produced  of  those 
things  which  contribute  to  human  life  and  human 
happiness.  Would  even  a  single  nation  begin  with 
the  United  States  this  system  of  commerce  it 
would  be  advisable  to  begin  with  that  nation." 

Jefferson's  idea  was  to  limit  our  commerce  so 
far  as  possible  to  countries  which  did  not  produce 
what  is  produced  in  the  United  States,  and  have 
general  reciprocity. 

In  his  message  to  Congress  in  1808  President 
Jefferson  accepted  a  protective  tariff  as  a  result 
of  the  "  suspension  of  our  foreign  commerce  pro 
duced  by  the  injustice  of  the  belligerent  powers 
and  the  consequent  losses  and  sacrifices  of  our  citi 
zens."  "  The  situation  to  which  we  have  just 
been  forced  has  impelled  us  to  apply  a  portion  of 
our  industry  and  capital  to  internal  manufactures 
and  improvements.  The  extent  of  this  conversion 
is  daily  increasing,  and  little  doubt  remains  that 
the  establishments  formed  and  forming,  will,  under 
the  auspices  of  cheaper  materials  and  subsistence, 
the  freedom  of  labors  and  taxations  with  us  and 
of  protecting  duties  and  prohibitions,  become  per 
manent." 

He  favored  the  taxation  of  luxuries.  "  The  reve- 
299 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

nue  on  the  consumption  of  foreign  articles  is  paid 
cheerfully  by  those  who  can  afford  to  add  foreign 
luxuries  to  domestic  comforts."  "  The  taxes  on 
imports  fall  exclusively  on  the  rich." 

He  was  opposed  to  an  excise  law  to  tax  every 
thing  the  people  ate  or  drank.  "  The  excise  law 
is  an  infernal  one,"  he  writes  to  Madison.  "  The 
first  error  was  to  admit  it  by  the  Constitution." 

Jefferson  advocated  the  taxation  of  exports,  par 
ticularly  rice,  indigo,  cotton,  tobacco,  and  sugar. 

He  advocated  the  abolition  of  all  internal  taxes 
on  the  theory  that  "  Sound  principles  of  economy 
will  not  justify  the  taxing  of  the  industries  of  our 
people." 

He  was  opposed  to  a  duty  on  books,  which  he 
said  was  a  tax  on  intelligence. 

"  Our  interests  will  be  to  throw  open  the  doors 
of  commerce,  and  to  knock  off  all  its  shackles, 
giving  perfect  freedom  to  all  persons  for  the  vent 
of  whatever  they  may  choose  to  bring  into  our 
ports,  and  asking  the  same  in  theirs." 

"  Could  each  country  be  free  to  exchange  with 
others  mutual  surpluses  for  mutual  wants,  the 
greatest  mass  possible  would  then  be  produced 
of  those  things  which  contribute  to  human  life, 
and  human  happiness;  the  numbers  of  mankind 
would  be  increased,  and  their  condition  bet 
tered." 

"  An  equilibrium  of  agriculture,  manufactures 
and  commerce  is  certainly  essential  to  our  inde 
pendence.  Manufactures  sufficient  for  our  own 
consumption,  of  what  we  raise  in  raw  material 
and  no  more.  Commerce  sufficient  to  carry  the 
surplus  produce  of  agriculture  beyond  our  own 
consumption  to  a  market  for  exchanging  it  for 
articles  we  can  not  raise  (and  no  more).  These 
are  the  true  limits  of  manufactures  and  commerce. 

300 


JEFFERSON  AS   A   POLITICIAN 

To  go  beyond  them  is  to  increase  our  dependence 
on  foreign  nations  and  our  liability  to  war.  These 
three  important  branches  of  human  industry  will 
then  grow  together  and  be  really  handmaids  to 
each  other." 

"  My  idea  is  that  we  should  encourage  home 
manufacturers  to  the  extent  of  our  own  consump 
tion  of  everything  of  which  we  raise  the  raw 
materials." 

Until  the  purchase  of  the  Louisiana  Territory 
enlarged  the  national  domain,  Jefferson  was  against 
immigration.  "  If  they  [foreigners]  come  of 
themselves/'  he  said,  "  they  are  entitled  to  all  the 
rights  of  citizenship,  but  I  doubt  the  expediency 
of  inviting  them  by  extraordinary  encourage 
ments."  He  was  in  favor  of  liberal  naturalization. 
"  Might  not  the  general  character  and  capability 
of  a  citizen  be  safely  communicated  to  every  one 
manifesting  a  bone  fide  purpose  of  embarking  his 
life  and  fortunes  permanently  with  us?" 

Jefferson  was  dissatisfied  because  there  was  no 
article  in  the  new  Constitution  "providing  clearly 
and  without  the  aid  of  sophism,  for  the  restriction 
of  monopolies." 

"  There  is  only  one  passage  in  President  Mon 
roe's  message  which  I  disapprove,"  he  wrote,  "  and 
which  I  trust  will  not  be  approved  by  our  legis 
lature.  It  is  that  which  proposes  to  subject  the 
Indians  to  our  laws  without  their  consent.  A 
little  patience  and  a  little  money  are  so  rapidly 
producing  their  voluntary  removal  across  the  Mis 
sissippi  that  I  hope  this  immorality  will  not  be 
permitted  to  stain  our  history."  Jefferson's  idea 
was  "  to  intermix  the  Indians  with  the  white  peo 
ple,  and  let  them  become  one  people."  "  Incorpo 
rating  them  with  us  as  citizens  of  the  United 
States,"  he  said ;  "  this  is  what  the  natural  prog- 

301 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

ress  of  things  will  of  course  bring  on,  and  it 
will  be  better  to  promote  than  to  retard  it." 

With  regard  to  the  public  lands  in  the  new 
Territory,  he  opposed  their  sale,  particularly  in 
large  tracts,  but  advocated  the  policy  of  disposing 
of  them  by  auction  for  not  less  than  one  dollar 
an  acre  and  giving  them  in  payment  for  military 
services  rendered  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 
He  also  suggested  that  wealthy  foreigners  might 
be  induced  to  establish  colonies,  and  proposed  to 
give  one  hundred  acres  of  land  for  every  colonist 
brought  into  the  country.  "  A  foreigner  who  brings 
a  settler  does  more  good  than  if  he  put  into  the 
Treasury  five  shillings  or  five  pounds.  That  set 
tler  will  be  worth  to  the  public  twenty  times  as 
much  every  year  as  on  our  old  plan  he  would  have 
paid  in  one  payment." 

Jefferson  was  strongly  in  favor  of  a  militia  as 
a  nursery  for  an  army,  and  in  his  first  annual 
message  advocated  "  the  organization  of  three 
hundred  thousand  able  bodied  men,  between  the 
ages  of  eighteen  and  twenty-six,  for  offense  or 
defense  at  any  time  or  at  any  place  where  they 
may  be  wanted."  In  a  letter  to  Monroe  he  advo 
cated  compulsory  service.  "  We  must  train  and 
classify  the  whole  of  our  male  citizens,"  he  said, 
"and  make  military  instruction  a  part  of  .colle 
giate  education.  We  can  never  be  safe  until  this 
is  done." 

"The  spirit  of  this  country  is  totally  adverse 
to  a  large  military  force." 

"  When  any  one  state  in  the  American  union 
refuses  obedience  to  the  Confederation  to  which 
they  have  bound  themselves  the  rest  have  the 
natural  right  to  compell  it  to  obedience.  Should 
this  cause  ever  arise  they  will  probably  coerce  by 
a  naval  force  as  being  more  easy,  less  dangerous 

302 


JEFFERSON  AS   A   POLITICIAN 

to  liberty,  and  less  likely  to  produce  much  blood 
shed." 

"  My  plan  would  be  to  make  the  States  one  as 
to  everything  connected  with  foreign  nations,  and 
several  as  to  everything  purely  domestic." 

Jefferson  wanted  an  aristocracy  in  the  United 
States  "  founded  on  education  rather  than  wealth 
and  ancestry." 

"  I  hope  that  the  terms  of  '  Excellency/  '  Honor/ 
'  Worship/  '  Esquire'  will  forever  disappear  from 
among  us.  I  wish  that  of  'Mister'  to  follow 
them." 

He  advocated  a  law  prohibiting  speculation  in 
stocks. 

"  The  manners  of  every  nation  are  the  standard 
of  orthodoxy  within  itself.  But  the  standard 
being  arbitrary,  reasonable  people  allow  free  tol 
eration  for  the  manners  as  for  the  religion  of 
others." 

One  of  Jefferson's  peculiar  doctrines,  afterwards 
adopted  by  Henry  George,  was  that  one  generation 
of  men  had  no  right  to  bind  another,  either  in 
a  collective  or  individual  capacity.  "  No  man,  by 
natural  right,"  he  said  in  a  letter  to  James  Madison, 
"can  oblige  the  persons  who  succeed  him  for  the 
payment  of  debts  contracted  by  him.  What  is 
true  of  every  member  of  society  individually  is 
true  of  them  collectively,  since  the  rights  of  the 
whole  can  be  no  more  than  the  sum  of  the  rights 
of  the  individuals."  As  a  generation  of  man 
kind  is  supposed  to  be  measured  by  thirty-four 
years,  Jefferson  held  that  no  government,  and  no 
individual,  corporation,  or  association,  "not  even 
the  whole  nation  itself  assembled,  can  validly  en 
gage  debts  beyond  what  they  may  pay  in  their  own 
time,  that  is  to  say,  within  thirty  four  years  of 
the  date  of  the  engagement,  or  by  a  different  esti- 

3°3 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

mate  of  life  in  nineteen  years."  "  The  principle  of 
spending  money  to  be  paid  by  posterity  under  the 
name  of  funding,"  he  said,  "  is  but  swindling  fu 
turity  on  a  large  scale." 

He  said  in  a  letter  to  Madison :  "  No  society 
can  make  a  perpetual  constitution  or  a  perpetual 
law.  The  earth  belongs  to  the  living  generation; 
they  may  manage  it  then  and  what  proceeds  from 
it  as  they  please  during  their  usufruct.  They  are 
masters  of  their  persons  and  consequently  may 
govern  them  as  they  please.  But  persons  and 
property  make  the  sum  of  the  objects  of  govern 
ment.  The  constitution  and  the  laws  of  their 
predecessors  are  extinguished  in  their  natural 
course  with  those  that  gave  them  being.  Every 
constitution  then,  and  every  law  naturally  expires 
at  the  end  of  thirty  four  years.  If  it  be  enforced 
longer  it  is  an  act  of  force  and  not  of  right." 

He  considered  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  un 
constitutional.  "  I  discharged  every  person  under 
punishment  or  prosecution  under  the  sedition  law," 
he  said  in  a  letter  to  John  Adams  in  1804,  "be 
cause  I  considered  and  now  consider  that  law  to 
be  a  nullity  as  absolute  and  as  palpable  as  if  Con 
gress  had  ordered  us  to  fall  down  and  worship  a 
golden  image." 

Referring  to  the  practice  of  lynching,  he  said, 
"  It  is  more  dangerous  that  even  a  guilty  person 
should  be  punished  without  the  forms  of  law, 
than  that  he  should  escape." 

Referring  to  the  Burr  case,  he  said :  "  On  great 
occasions  every  good  officer  must  be  ready  to  risk 
himself  in  going  beyond  the  strict  line  of  the  law 
when  the  public  preservation  requires  it.  His  mo 
tive  will  be  a  justification  as  far  as  there  is  any 
discretion  in  his  ultra  legal  proceedings,  and  no 
indulgence  of  private  feelings." 

304 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

"Do  not  be  too  severe  upon  the  errors  of  the 
people  by  enlightening  them.  Ignorance  is  prefer 
able  to  error,  and  he  is  less  remote  from  the  truth 
who  believes  in  nothing,  than  he  who  believes  in 
what  is  wrong." 

He  was  a  determined  opponent  of  centralization. 
"  To  take  from  the  States  all  the  powers  of  self 
government  and  transfer  them  to  the  general  and 
consolidated  government  without  regard  to  'the 
special  delegations  and  reservations  solemnly 
agreed  to  in  the  compact,  is  not  for  the  peace, 
happiness  or  prosperity  of  these  states." 

"I  wish  to  see  maintained  the  wholesome  dis 
tribution  of  power  established  by  the  constitu 
tion." 

"  What  has  destroyed  the  liberty  and  the  rights 
of  man  in  every  government  which  has  ever  existed 
under  the  sun?  The  generalizing  and  concen 
trating  all  cares  and  powers  into  one  body." 

"  It  is  not  by  the  consolidation  or  concentration 
of  powers,  but  by  their  distribution  that  good  gov 
ernment  is  effected." 

He  urges  specific  appropriations  of  money  by 
Congress  as  fastening  responsibility  upon  the  ex 
ecutive  who  was  entrusted  with  its  expenditure. 
For  Congress  to  make  general  appropriations  was 
a  violation  of  that  section  of  the  Constitution 
which  provides  that  no  money  shall  be  withdrawn 
from  the  Treasury  except  in  consequence  of  appro 
priations  made  by  law. 

Like  the  leaders  of  the  Populist  party  at  the 
present  day,  Jefferson  was  opposed  to  a  permanent 
judiciary,  as  he  believed  the  responsibility  of 
judges  would  be  increased  if  they  were  elected 
for  four  or  six  years,  and  this  would  keep  them 
in  touch  with  the  opinions  of  the  people.  His 
opponents  replied  that  such  a  policy  would  sub- 
*>  305 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

ject  the  courts  to  the  most  dangerous  and  mis 
chievous  of  all  the  great  variety  of  influences 
which  could  assail  them,  popular  caprice  and  pop 
ular  passion,  and  render  them  liable  to  be  called 
to  account  by  mobs  for  any  decision  that  might 
happen  to  be  obnoxious. 

While  President,  in  1806,  he  received  a  bronze 
bust  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  of  Russia,  which 
still  stands  in  the  hall  at  Monticello,  opposite  that 
of  Napoleon.  It  came  through  a  Mr.  Harris,  to 
whom  he  promptly  wrote  the  following  explana 
tion  of  his  views  on  the  subject  of  gifts :  "  I  had 
laid  down  as  a  law  for  my  conduct  in  office,  and 
hitherto  scrupulously  observed,  to  accept  of  no 
present  beyond  a  book,  a  pamphlet  or  other  curi 
osity  of  minor  value;  but  my  particular  esteem 
for  the  character  of  the  Emperor  places  his  image 
in  my  mind  above  the  scope  of  the  law.  I  receive 
it  therefore  and  shall  cherish  it  with  affection." 

This  gift  was  the  occasion  of  the  interchange 
of  pleasant  complimentary  letters  between  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  the  Czar. 

Jefferson  was  the  first  great  expounder  of  the 
doctrine  of  State-rights.  He  was  the  author  of 
the  Kentucky  resolutions,  which  proclaimed  the 
nullification  policy  for  the  first  time  in  a  formal 
manner,  but  when,  as  Mr.  Cleveland  said,  a  con 
dition  instead  of  a  theory  confronted  him,  he  fol 
lowed  the  impulse  of  common  sense  instead  of 
adhering  to  political  consistency.  In  defending 
his  course  he  said:  "The  legislature,  in  casting 
behind  them  metaphysical  subtleties,  and  risking 
themselves  like  faithful  servants,  must  ratify  and 
pay  for  it,  and  throw  themselves  on  their  country 
for  doing  unauthorized  what  we  know  they  would 
do  for  themselves  had  they  been  in  a  situation 
to  do  it." 

306 


JEFFERSON   AS   A   POLITICIAN 

He  was  opposed  to  imprisonment  for  debt. 
"  Neither  nature,  right  or  reason  subjects  the  body 
of  men  to  restraint  for  debt." 

He  believed  in  extradition.  "  Two  neighboring 
and  free  governments  with  laws  equally  mild  and 
just,  would  find  no  difficulty  in  forming  a  con 
vention  for  the  interchange  of  fugitive  criminals," 
he  said.  "  The  difference  between  a  free  govern 
ment  and  a  despotic  one  is  indeed  great." 

He  was  opposed  to  all  decorations,  medals,  and 
other  "  baubles."  He  objected  to  the  organization 
of  the  Society  of  Cincinnati,  which  was  composed 
of  the  officers  of  the  Revolution,  and  said:  "Let 
them  melt  up  their  eagles,  and  add  the  mass  to 
the  distributable  fund  that  their  descendants  may 
have  no  temptation  to  hang  them  in  their  button 
holes." 


XI 

JEFFERSON'S  MORALS  AND  RELIGIOUS  VIEWS 

JEFFERSON  was  accused  of  being  an  atheist  when 
he  was  a  Unitarian,  but,  in  the  state  of  civilization 
prevailing  in  Virginia  at  that  time,  one  term  was 
quite  as  odious  as  the  other,  and  if  the  law  had 
been  enforced  against  him,  he  would  have  been 
deprived  of  the  custody  of  his  children,  publicly 
whipped  every  day  until  he  acknowledged  the 
Trinity,  and  imprisoned  until  he  asked  forgiveness 
of  the  church  for  denying  that  doctrine.  When 
the  news  of  his  election  as  President  reached  Mas 
sachusetts,  we  are  told  that  some  old  ladies  in 
pious  consternation  hid  their  Bibles  in  butter- 
coolers  and  lowered  them  into  their  wells. 

Jefferson  was  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church 
at  Charlottesville,  which  still  stands  and  is  at 
tended  by  some  of  his  descendants.  The  little 
congregation  first  worshipped  in  the  court-house, 
and  he  was  to  be  seen  there  every  Sabbath  morn 
ing,  bringing  with  him  a  folding  chair  of  his  own 
invention,  which  was  more  comfortable  than  those 
provided  for  the  congregation.  When  the  people 
of  the  parish  felt  rich  enough  to  build  a  church 
he  drew  the  plans  with  great  care,  and  superin 
tended  its  construction.  He  was  elected  vestryman 
soon  after  he  became  of  age,  -and  although  he 
could  not  take  the  oath,  he  never  failed  to  per 
form  the  duties  while  he  was  at  Monticello.  He 
freely  gave  of  his  time,  money,  and  ability  to 
promote  the  religious  objects  of  his  neighbors. 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

He  contributed  liberally  towards  the  erection  of 
churches  in  other  parts  of  Virginia,  and  indig 
nantly  denied  that  he  was  an  atheist.  In  many 
letters,  public  addresses,  and  official  documents  he 
not  only  admits  the  existence  of  a  God,  but  his 
belief  in  an  overruling  Providence,  and,  as  his 
mind  matured,  his  religion  reduced  itself  to  two 
articles, — a  belief  in  God  as  a  supreme  and  om 
nipotent  being,  and  veneration  for  the  character 
and  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ.  "An  atheist  I 
can  never  be,"  he  wrote  John  Adams;  "I  am  a 
Christian,  in  the  only  sense  Christ  wished  any  one 
to  be, — sincerely  attached  to  his  doctrines  in  pref 
erence  to  all  others."  While  to  another  he  wrote : 
"  Had  the  doctrines  of  Jesus  been  always  preached 
as  pure  as  they  came  from  his  lips,  the  whole  civil 
ized  world  would  now  have  been  christened.  Had 
there  never  been  a  commentator  there  never  would 
have  been  an  infidel."  And  again,  in  a  letter  to 
Samuel  Greenhow,  written  four  years  after  he 
retired  from  the  Presidency,  he  says,  "  There  was 
never  a  more  pure  and  sublime  system  of  morality 
delivered  to  man  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  four 
evangelists." 

Jefferson's  frequent  denunciation  of  the  clergy 
was  in  the  nature  of  retaliation,  for  the  most  bitter, 
exasperating,  and  unjustifiable  attacks  and  slanders 
that  were  published  concerning  his  private  char 
acter  came  from  ministers  of  the  gospel.  "  From 
the  clergy,"  he  said,  "I  expect  no  mercy.  They 
crucified  their  Saviour.  The  laws  of  the  present 
day  withhold  their  hands  from  blood,  but  lies 
and  slander  still  remain  to  them."  Again  he  says : 
"  Ministers  and  merchants  love  nobody.  In  every 
country  and  in  every  age  the  priest  has  been  hos 
tile  to  liberty." 

These  bitter  reflections  were  provoked  by  the 
309 


THE  TRUE  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

publication  in  pamphlet  form  for  campaign  pur 
poses  of  a  sermon  preached  by  a  prominent  clergy 
man  of  Connecticut,  who  accused  Jefferson  of 
gross  immorality  and  dishonesty.  He  was  charged 
with  debauching  his  slave  women,  swindling 
widows  and  orphans,  and  embezzling  trust-funds. 
Jefferson  wrote  to  a  friend  in  that  State,  deny 
ing  the  embezzlement  story,  and  explaining  that 
he  never  had  charge  of  any  trust-funds.  Aside 
from  a  general  contradiction  he  paid  no  attention 
to  the  other  charges,  which  was  according  to  his 
custom,  and  it  is  said  that  this  was  the  only  time 
he  ever  took  public  notice  of  an  attack  upon  his 
morals. 

He  was  equally  severe  in  his  denunciation  of 
newspapers  for  reasons  similar  to  those  which  pro 
voked  President  Cleveland  to  make  a  sweeping  de 
nunciation  of  the  press, — a  sense  of  personal  in 
jury  and  resentment  for  their  attacks  upon  his 
private  character.  Although  free  speech,  free 
thought,  and  a  free  press  were  among  the  funda 
mental  principles  of  his  political  creed,  he  became 
so  exasperated  at  one  time  that  he  advocated  the 
appointment  of  government  censors,  and  in  a  letter 
to  President  Washington  said :  "  No  government 
ought  to  be  without  censors,  and  where  the  press 
is  free  no  one  ever  will."  In  a  letter  to  a  friend 
he  said  spitefully,  "  There  is  nothing  true  in  the 
newspapers  except  the  advertisements/'  and  again : 
"  The  man  who  never  looked  into  a  newspaper  is 
better  informed  than  he  who  reads  them.  He 
who  reads  nothing  will  get  all  the  great  facts, 
and  the  details  are  all  false."  In  1815,  after  his 
retirement  from  the  Presidency,  he  writes :  "  I 
have  almost  ceased  to  read  the  newspapers.  Mine 
often  remain  in  the  post  office  a  week  or  ten  days, 
and  are  sometimes  unasked  for.  I  find  more 

310 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

amusement  in  the  study  to  which  I  was  always 
attached,  and  from  which  I  was  dragged  by  the 
events  of  the  times  in  which  I  happened  to  have 
lived." 

The  chief  offender  among  newspapers  was  the 
Richmond  Recorder,  edited  by  a  Scotchman  named 
Callender,  who  sought  an  asylum  in  this  country 
to  escape  punishment  for  libels  published  in  Eng 
land.  He  was  not  here  long  before  he  was  ar 
rested  and  imprisoned  under  the  sedition  act  and 
was  one  of  those  whom  Jefferson  pardoned  on 
the  day  that  he  became  President.  This  incident 
brought  him  personally  to  Jefferson's  acquaintance, 
and  for  a  time  he  proved  to  be  useful  to  the  Demo 
cratic  leaders  as  a  writer.  Jefferson  defended  and 
shielded  him  as  long  as  his  patience  would  'per 
mit,  and  aided  him  from  time  to  time  with  loans 
of  money  that  were  never  repaid,  but  was  finally 
compelled  to  repudiate  him,  when  Callender  turned 
upon  his  benefactor.  It  was  he  who  discovered 
Hamilton's  relations  with  Mrs.  Reynolds,  and 
published  the  story  with  Jefferson's  approval.  He 
afterwards  blackmailed  Hamilton  with  evidence 
he  had  secured  in  a  dishonest  manner.  He  was 
the  author  of  several  miserable  scandals  about 
Washington.  He  attempted  to  blackmail  Jeffer 
son  into  making  him  postmaster  at  Richmond, 
but  Jefferson  had  the  moral  courage  to  refuse, 
even  though  he  knew  what  to  expect,  and  the 
penalty  of  his  refusal  was  the  publication  of  a 
series  of  the  most  revolting  stories  about  his  pri 
vate  life,  which  were  copied  by  the  Federalist 
newspapers  of  the  Northern  States  with  what 
President  Cleveland  called  "  ghoulish  glee."  Some 
of  these  stories  were  based  upon  local  gossip  at 
Charlottesville,  and  doubtless  had  a  slender  vein 
of  truth,  a  meagre  excuse  for  existence,  but  Cal- 

3" 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

lender's  vulgar  and  malicious  mind  magnified  and 
distorted  them.  Jefferson  never  stooped  to  a  denial, 
and  his  political  opponents  chose  to  interpret  his 
silence  as  an  admission  of  guilt.  He  was  probably 
no  more  immoral  than  Franklin,  Washington, 
Hamilton,  and  other  men  of  his  time.  He  was 
neither  a  St.  Anthony  nor  a  Don  Juan.  Judged 
by  the  standard  of  his  generation,  his  vices  were 
those  of  a  gentleman,  and  such  as  did  not  de 
prive  him  of  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the 
community. 

The  scandals  circulated  by  the  Federalist  news 
papers  were  so  generally  believed  that  Thomas 
Moore,  the  famous  Irish  poet,  accepted  them  as 
true,  and,  visiting  the  United  States  during  the 
period  of  Jefferson's  Presidency,  wrote  some  verses 
of  which  the  following  is  a  sample : 

"The  patriot,  fresh  from  Freedom's  councils  come, 
Now  pleas'd,  retires  to  lash  his  slaves  at  home ; 
Or  woo.  perhaps,  some  black  Aspasia's  charms 
And  dream  of  Freedom  in  his  bondmaid's  arms." 

This  poem  may  be  found  in  the  London  edition 
of  the  "  Poetical  Works  of  Thomas  Moore,"  pub 
lished  in  1853,  and  is  embellished  by  a  foot-note 
explaining  that  the  President  of  the  United  States 
was  referred  to. 

The  local  traditions  attribute  to  Jefferson  the 
paternity  of  a  distinguished  man  of  the  generation 
following  him  who  was  prominently  identified  in 
the  development  of  the  West,  and  whose  mother, 
famous  for  her  beauty  and  attractions,  lived  near 
Monticello.  Her  husband  was  a  dissolute  wretch 
and  abandoned  her  to  the  protection  of  friends. 
Jefferson  looked  after  her  interests,  advised  her 
concerning  the  management  of  her  little  property, 
educated  her  son,  appointed  him  to  office,  pushed 
him  into  political  prominence,  furnished  him  op- 

312 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

portunities  for  advancement,  and  showed  an  affec 
tionate  solicitude  for  his  welfare.  It  is  charitable 
to  suppose  that  this  was  due  to  a  friendly  rather 
than  a  paternal  interest. 

In  early  days,  and  up  to  a  recent  period,  nearly 
every  mulatto  by  the  name  of  Jefferson  in  Albe- 
marle  County,  and  they  were  numerous,  claimed 
descent  from  the  Sage  of  Monticello,  which  grati 
fied  their  pride  but  seriously  damaged  his  reputa 
tion.  Jefferson  does  not  appear  to  have  taken 
notice  of  these  scandals,  except  in  a  single  in 
stance.  During  the  campaign  of  1804  a  respectable 
mulatto  living  in  Ohio,  named  Madison  Henings, 
boasted  that  he  was  a  son  of  the  President  and 
Sally  Henings,  who  was  one  of  his  slaves,  and 
Jefferson  invoked  his  carefully  kept  record  of  vital 
statistics  at  Monticello  to  prove  an  alibi.  The  date 
of  Madison  Hening's  birth  made  it  impossible 
for  Jefferson  to  have  been  his  father,  and  Ed 
ward  Bacon,  the  overseer  of  the  plantation,  made 
a  statement  to  a  clergyman  in  which  he  gave 
circumstantial  evidence  to  prove  Jefferson's  inno 
cence.  ^ 

Jefferson  wrote  as  many  proverbs  as  Solomon^ 
but  was  quite  as  careless  in  observing  them.  He 
loved  to  admonish  others,  but  did  not  care  to  be 
restrained  by  his  own  rules.  Proverbs  are  short 
descriptions  of  long  experience,  and  it  is  easier 
to  instruct  by  precept  than  by  example.  He  wrote 
in  his  youth  what  he  called  "  A  Decalogue  of 
Canons  for  Observation  in  Practical  Life,"  which 
are  admirable,  and  applicable  to  everybody  in  all 
generations : 

"  i.  Never  put  off  till  to-morrow  what  you  can 
do  to-day. 

"2.  Never  trouble  another  for  what  you  can 
do  yourself. 

313 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

"3.  Never  spend  your  money  before  you  have 
it. 

"4.  Never  buy  what  you  don't  want  because 
it  is  cheap;  it  will  be  dear  to  you. 

"  5.  Pride  costs  us  more  than  hunger,  thirst  or 
cold. 

"  6.  We  never  repent  of  having  eaten  too  little. 

"  7.  Nothing  is  troublesome  that  we  do  will 
ingly. 

"  8.  How  much  pain  have  cost  us  the  evils  which 
have  never  happened. 

"  9.  Take  things  always  by  the  smooth  han 
dle. 

"  10.  When  angry,  count  ten  before  you  speak; 
if  very  angry,  then  a  hundred." 

While  he  was  Secretary  of  State  he  prepared  a 
series  of  maxims  for  the  edification  of  his  little 
grandson,  Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph,  as  fol 
lows  : 

"  Good  humor  is  one  of  the  preservatives  of  our 
peace  and  tranquility. 

"  Politeness  is  artificial  good  humor ;  it  covers 
the  natural  want  of  it,  and  hence,  rendering  habit 
ual  a  substitute  nearly  equivalent  to  real  virtue. 

"  Never  enter  into  a  dispute  or  an  argument 
with  another.  I  never  yet  saw  an  instance  of  one 
of  two  disputants  convincing  the  other  by  argu 
ment. 

"  It  was  one  of  the  rules,  which  above  all  others 
made  Dr.  Franklin  the  most  amiable  of  men  in 
society,  never  to  contradict  anybody. 

"  Good  humor  and  politeness  never  introduce 
into  society  a  question  on  which  they  foresee  there 
will  be  a  difference  of  opinion. 

"  Be  a  listener  only  and  endeavor  to  establish 
with  yourself  the  habit  of  silence,  specially  in 
politics. 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

"  No  good  can  ever  result  from  any  attempt 
to  set  one  of  those  fiery  zealots  to  rights,  either 
in  fact  or  principle." 

"If  you  ever  find  yourself,  environed  with  diffi 
cult  and  perplexing  circumstances,"  he  once  wrote 
his  daughter,  "  out  of  which  you  are  at  a  loss  to 
extricate  yourself,  do  what  is  right,  and  be  as 
sured  that  that  will  extricate  you  the  best  out  of 
the  worst  situation,  for  you  cannot  see  when  you 
take  one  step  what  the  next  will  be.  Follow  truth, 
justice  and  plain  dealing,  and  never  fear  that  they 
will  not  lead  you  out  of  the  labyrinth  in  the  easiest 
manner  possible.  In  little  disputes  with  your  com 
panions  give  way  rather  than  insist  on  trifles,  for 
their  love  and  approbation  will  be  worth  more  to 
you  than  the  trifle  in  dispute." 

The  following  are  other  examples  of  Jefferson's 
maxims : 

"  I  never  considered  a  difference  of  opinion  in 
politics,  in  religion  or  in  philosophy  as  a  cause  for 
withdrawing  from  a  friend." 

"  Wealth,  title  and  office  are  no  recommendation 
to  my  friendship.  On  the  contrary,  great  good 
qualities  are  requisite  to  make  amends  for  their 
having  wealth,  title  and  office." 

Jefferson's  philosophy  taught  him  that  "  when 
great  evils  happen  I  am  in  the  habit  of  looking 
out  for  what  good  may  arise  from  them  as  con 
solation,  for  Providence  has  in  fact  so  established 
the  order  of  things  as  that  most  evils  are  the  mgans 
of  producing  some  good." 

"The  Creator  has  not  thought  proper  to  mark 

those  in  the  forehead  who  are  of  stuff  to  make 

rgood  generals.     We  are  first,  therefore,  to  seek 

rthem  blindfolded,  and  let  them  learn  the  trade  at 

the  expense  of  great  losses." 

"  We  can  not  tell  by  his  plumage  whether  a  cock 
315 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

is  dunghill  or  game.  But  with  us  cowardice  and 
courage  wear  the  same  plume." 

"  There  are  minds  which  can  be  pleased  by 
honors  and  preferments,  but  I  see  nothing  in  them 
but  envy  and  enmity.  It  is  only  necessary  to 
possess  them  to  know  how  little  they  contribute 
to  happiness,  or  how  hostile  they  are  to  it."  And 
in  a  letter  to  his  daughter  he  said :  "  I  have  seen 
enough  of  political  honors  to  know  that  they  are 
but  splendid  torment." 

"  The  best  way  to  place  your  guests  at  their 
ease  is  by  showing  them  that  we  are  so  ourselves, 
and  that  we  follow  our  necessary  vocations,  instead 
of  fatiguing  them  by  hanging  unremittingly  on 
their  shoulders." 

Jefferson's  opinion  of  European  royalty  was  ex 
pressed  in  a  letter  to  General  Washington,  in  which 
he  said,  "  I  can  say  with  perfect  safety  that  there 
is  not  a  crowned  head  in  Europe  whose  talents 
or  merits  would  entitle  him  to  be  elected  a  vestry 
man  by  the  people  of  any  parish  in  America." 

His  overseer,  Edward  Bacon,  in  dictating  his 
recollections  of  Jefferson  to  a  clergyman  said : 
"  He  did  not  use  tobacco  in  any  form.  He  never 
used  a  profane  word  or  anything  like  it.  He 
never  played  cards.  I  never  saw  a  card  in  the 
house  at  Monticello,  and  I  had  particular  orders 
from  him  to  suppress  card  playing  among  the  ne 
groes,  who,  you  know,  are  very  fond  of  it."  Mrs. 
Randolph,  in  memoranda  prepared  for  her  father's 
biographer,  gave  similar  testimony,  which  has  been 
accepted  and  copied  by  nearly  every  writer  of  Jef- 
fersoniana ;  and  Jefferson  himself  said,  "  Gambling 
corrupts  all  dispositions  and  creates  a  habit  of 
hostility  against  all  mankind."  Nevertheless,  his 
account-books  contain  frequent  entries  of  money 
won  or  lost  in  games  of  chance;  but  they  were 

316 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

small  amounts,  never  more  than  a  few  shillings, 
which  were  always  carefully  noted  like  this: 

"  Lost  at  Backgammon 7/6 

Won  at  Cards 7/ 

Won  at  Backgammon 7d. 

Won  at  Cross  and  Pyle 3/ 

Lost  at  Lotto i8/ 

Mrs.  Jefferson  lost  at  cards 1/3" 

Although  he  was  a  breeder  of  fine  horses  and 
a  famous  equestrian,  Jefferson  never  allowed  any 
of  them  on  the  turf.  Nor  did  he  ever  attend  a 
race,  so  Bacon  and  his  daughter  testify,  or  patron 
ize  or  encourage  horse-racing  in  any  way,  although 
at  that  date  it  was  one  of  the  universal  amusements 
of  the  Virginia  gentleman.  This  is  said  to  have 
been  quite  as  much  from  an  indifference  to  sport 
as  from  principle.  He  was  a  liberal  patron  of  the 
theatre  and  attended  every  musical  entertainment 
that  came  within  his  convenience. 

He  rarely  missed  a  show  of  any  kind.  It  has 
been  said  that  "  his  curiosity  was  in  quantity  as  a 
child's,  in  quality  as  a  philosopher's."  His  diary 
abounds  in  entries  like  these : 

"  1791  Dec  20  pd  for  seeing  a  lion  21  months  old  11,  %  a 
"  1792  June  i  pd  seeing  a  small  seal  .125 
"  1797  March  10  pd  seeing  elephant  .5  d 

13  pd  seeing  elk  .75  d 
"  1798  Jan  25  pd  seeing  Caleb  Phillips  a  dwarf.  25  d 

(Note  he  weighs  —  Ib  now  and  when 
born  he  weighed  with  the  clothes  in 
which  he  was  swaddled  31  Ib,  he  is 
—  years  old. 

"  April  10  1800  pd  seeing  a  painting  .25  d" 

During  the  most  critical  period  of  his  adminis 
tration  of  the  foreign  policy  of  the  government 
he  paid  six  pence  to  see  an  alligator  and  a  shilling 
to  see  a  learned  pig.  This  might  be  accounted  for 

317 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

by  his  well-known  love  of  natural  history  had 
he  not  attended  a  balloon  ascension  at  the  same 
time  at  the  enormous  expense  of  fifteen  shillings, 
and  paid  one  shilling  to  see  "  a  wax  figure  of  the 
King  of  Prussia,"  and  two  shillings  to  witness  a 
puppet  show.  Nor  did  Jefferson  have  the  ordinary 
excuse  that  some  grown-up  people  consider  neces 
sary  to  justify  gratifying  curiosity  in  such  a  man 
ner,  for  his  children  and  grandchildren  were  at 
Monticello. 

He  was  a  man  of  temperate  habits,  but  spent 
a  great  deal  of  money  for  wine.  His  daughter 
testifies  that  "  he  never  drank  ardent  spirits  or 
strong  wines.  Such  was  his  aversion,  that  when  in 
his  last  illness  his  physician  desired  him  to  use 
brandy  as  an  astringent,  he  could  not  be  induced 
to  take  it  strong  enough."  Bacon  gives  similar 
testimony.  Jefferson  himself  says :  "Of  all  the 
great  calamities,  intemperance  is  the  greatest.  The 
drunkard  as  much  as  the  maniac  requires  restrictive 
measures  to  save  him  from  the  fatal  infatuation 
under  which  he  is  destroying  his  health,  his  morals, 
his  family  and  his  usefulness  to  society."  Again 
he  refers  to  "  The  loathsome  and  fatal  effects  of 
whisky,  destroying  the  fortunes,  the  bodies,  the 
minds  and  the  morals  of  our  people." 

At  the  same  time  Jefferson  was  an  advocate  of 
the  use  of  wine  as  a  matter  of  health  and  prin 
ciple.  "  I  rejoice  as  a  moralist,"  he  says,  "  at  the 
prospect  of  a  reduction  of  the  duties  on  wine  by 
our  national  legislature.  It  is  an  error  to  view 
a  tax  on  that  liquor  as  merely  a  tax  on  the  rich. 
It  is  a  prohibition  of  its  use  among  the  middle 
classes  of  our  citizens,  and  a  condemnation  of 
them  to  the  poison  of  whisky,  which  is  desolating 
their  homes.  No  nation  is  drunken  where  wine 
is  cheap;  and  none  sober  where  the  dearness  of 

318 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

wine  substitutes  ardent  whisky  or  spirits  as  the 
common  beverage.  It  is  in  truth,  the  only  antidote 
to  the  bane  of  whisky." 

Jefferson  imported  large  quantities  of  wine,  and 
kept  a  record  of  every  bottle  bought  and  every 
bottle  consumed,  which  he  explained  was  "  to  try 
the  fidelity  of  Martin,"  evidently  the  servant  in 
charge  of  his  cellar.  From  his  account-book  we 
know  that  during  his  first  year  in  the  White  House 
he  spent  $2,262.33  for  wines  and  during  his  last 
year  only  $75.88.  During  his  first  year  his  grocer 
ies  cost  him  $2,003.71 ;  during  his  last  year 
$258.00.  This  may  be  explained  by  the  circum 
stance  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  importing  large 
quantities  of  dainties  for  which  he  had  acquired 
a  taste  during  his  residence  at  the  French  capital, 
and  also  because  of  his  increasing  anxiety  con 
cerning  his  debts.  From  the  account-book  owned 
by  the  late  Samuel  J.  Tilden  we  are  able  to  learn 
exactly  how  much  Jefferson  expended  for  his  en 
tertainments  at  the  White  House  and  for  his  other 
personal  expenses.  It  appears  that  his  wines  cost 
him  the  following  sums  in  the  years  named,  ac 
cording  to  his  own  calculations : 


"$2,622.33  in  1801 

1,975-72  in  1802 

1,253.57  in  1803 

2,668.94  in  1804 

546.41  in  1805 

659.38  in  1806 

553.97  in  1807 

75.58  in  1808 


"Total  $10,855.90 
"Average  per  year,  y8th      1,356.98" 

His  Madeira  seems  to  have  occupied  a  larger 
share  of  his  thoughts  than  any  other  of  his  wines. 

319 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 


We  have  a  table  of  the  duration  of  each  pipe  of 
Madeira  up  to  1804. 


MADEIRA. 


No. 

Rec'd. 

broached. 

finished. 

lasted. 

I 

1801  May  3 

oi  May  15 

oi  Nov.  3 

Excluding  ab 

sence      3^ 

months 

2 

3 

1801  June  12 
do 

Nov  3 
02  June  6 

02  June  6 
03  April  10 

6  months 
7  months 

4 

"   Sept  28 

03  April  10 

04  May  28 

10  months 

5 

do 

04  May  28 

05  May  15  sent 

remain.      76 

gall  to  Mon- 

ticello 

6 

1803  Mar  3 

05  May  15 

06  June 

lomo  17  d 

8 

"      do 
1804  Mar  19 

06  July 
07  Nov  25 

07  Nov.  25 

10     "     I9  " 

The  two  hundred  bottles  of  champagne  which 
appear  to  have  been  received  from  M.  D'Yrujo, 
"  100  December  n,  1802,  and  100  January  10, 
1803,"  gave  occasion  for  the  following  letter  from 
the  President  to  the  collector  at  Philadelphia : 

"DEAR  SIR, — Mons.  d'Yrujo  the  Spanish  Minister  here 
has  been  so  kind  as  to  spare  me  two  hundred  bottles  of 
champagne  part  of  a  large  parcel  imported  for  his  own  use 
and  consequently  privileged  from  duty ;  but  it  would  be 
improper  for  me  to  take  the  benefit  of  that.  I  must  therefore 
ask  the  favor  of  you  to  take  the  proper  measures  for  paying 
the  duty,  for  which  purpose  I  enclose  you  a  bank-check  for 
twenty  two  and  a  half  dollars,  the  amount  of  it.  If  it  could 
be  done  without  mentioning  my  name,  it  would  avoid  ill- 
intended  observation,  as  in  some  such  way  as  this,  '  By  duty 
paid,  on  a  part  of  such  a  parcel  of  wines  not  entitled  to 
privilege,'  or  in  any  other  way  you  please.  The  wine  was 
imported  into  Philadelphia  about  mid  summer  last.  Accept 
assurance  of  my  great  esteem  and  respect, 

"  TH.  JEFFERSON. 

"  GENERAL  MUHLENBERG." 

During  the  later  years  of  his  life  he  wrote  a 
friend :  "  I  have  lived  temperately,  eating  little 

320 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

animal  food  and  that  not  as  an  aliment  so  much 
as  a  condiment  for  the  vegetables  which  consti 
tute  my  principal  diet.  I  double,  however,  the 
Doctor's  glass  and  a  half  of  wine,  and  even  treble 
it  with  a  friend;  but  half  its  effects  by  drinking 
weak  wines  only.  The  ardent  wines  I  can  not 
drink,  nor  do  I  use  ardent  spirits  in  any  form. 
Malt  liquors  and  cider  are  my  table  drinks,  and 
my  breakfast,  like  that  also  of  my  friend,  is  of 
tea  and  coffee." 

In  his  financial  transactions  Jefferson  was 
scrupulously  honest,  and  the  manner  in  which  he 
settled  the  debts  of  his  father-in-law,  Wayles,  is 
an  example  to  conscientious  men.  After  his  death 
there  was  found  among  his  papers  a  letter  from 
Littleton  W.  Tazewell,  at  one  time  Governor  of 
Virginia  and  afterwards  a  member  of  the  United 
States  Senate  from  that  State,  who  wrote  in  the 
interest  of  a  Mr.  Welch,  who  seems  to  have  been 
one  of  the  heaviest  creditors  of  Mr.  Wayles :  "  I 
have  no  occasion  to  say  to  you  any  thing  more 
relative  to  the  payments  of  the  several  installments 
of  Mr.  Wayles's  debt  due  to  Mr.  Welch's  house. 
Your  conduct  as  to  this  affair  has  been  such  as  I 
expected,  &  for  his  sake  I  could  wish  the  other 
creditors  could  feel  the  same  sentiments  which 
have  actuated  you.  For  myself,  I  have  to  repeat 
that  whenever  your  convenience  will  permit,  with 
out  injury,  the  payment  will  be  expected.  Until 
then  it  ought  not  to  be  asked,  &  when  this  period 
shall  arrive,  to  you  I  know  a  request  will  not  be 
necessary." 

This  letter  is  difficult  to  explain,  as  Wayles  is 
supposed  to  have  been  a  man  of  large  means,  and 
Mrs.  Jefferson  inherited  a  considerable  amount  of 
property  from  him,  as  related  in  another  chapter. 
Nevertheless,  in  1800,  twenty-seven  years  after 
21  321 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

the  death  of  his  wife's  father,  Jefferson  seems  to 
have  been  still  paying  off  the  latter's  indebtedness 
by  instalments,  for  when  his  own  son-in-law  wrote 
him  for  money  he  replies :  "  I  sincerely  wish  I 
were  able  to  aid  you  in  the  embarrassments  you 
speak  of.  But  tho'  I  have  been  wiping  out  Mr. 
Wayles'  old  scores  it  has  been  impossible  to  me 
to  avoid  some  new  ones.  The  profits  of  my  Bed 
ford  estate  have  gone  for  this  purpose,  and  the 
unprofitable  state  of  Albemarle  has  kept  me  in  a 
constant  struggle.  There  is  a  possible  sale  which 
might  enable  me  to  aid  you,  and  nothing  could 
be  so  pleasing  to  me." 

In  January,  1801,  during  the  heat  of  the  Presi 
dential  contest  with  Burr,  he  learned  that  a  con 
tract  he  had  made  with  a  Mr.  Craven  in  Monti- 
cello  had  not  been  carried  out.  His  letters  do 
not  explain  how  it  happened,  but  he  appears  to 
have  trusted  "  Perry's  people,"  and  it  gave  him 
great  concern.  He  blames  nobody,  and  says  to 
his  son-in-law :  "  The  question  now,  however,  is 
as  to  the  remedy.  You  have  done  exactly  what  I 
would  have  wished,  and  as  I  place  the  compliance 
with  my  contract  with  Mr.  Craven  before  any 
other  object,  we  must  take  every  person  from  the 
nailery  able  to  cut  and  keep  them  at  it  till  the 
clearing  is  completed." 

Jefferson  believed  that  the  stories  of  his  atheism 
and  immorality  could  be  directly  traced  to  the 
ministers  and  the  aristocracy  of  Virginia,  and 
were  intended  as  retribution  for  the  conspicuous 
part  he  had  taken  in  the  separation  of  church 
and  state  and  in  the  repeal  of  the  laws  of  primo 
geniture,  which  abolished  caste  among  his  neigh 
bors.  The  statute  for  religious  liberty  in  Vir 
ginia,  which  he  wrote  and  forced  through  the 
Legislature,  was  copied  in  nearly  every  other 

322 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

State,  and  vehemently  opposed  by  the  clergy  and 
laymen  of  wealth  and  influence.  It  was  not  until 
1834  that  the  divorce  between  church  and  state 
was  complete  and  universal  in  this  country. 

"  I  have  sworn  upon  the  altar  of  God  eternal 
hostility  against  every  form  of  tyranny  over  the 
mind  of  man,"  said  Jefferson.  "  I  have  ever 
thought  religion  a  concern  purely  between  our 
maker  and  our  conscience,  for  which  we  are  ac 
countable  to  Him,  and  not  to  the  priest.  I  never 
tell  my  religion,  nor  scrutinize  that  of  another. 
I  never  attempted  to  make  a  convert,  nor  wished 
to  change  another's  creed.  I  have  ever  judged 
of  the  religion  of  others  by  their  lives,  for  it  is 
in  our  lives  and  not  from  our  words,  that  our 
religion  must  be  read." 

Jefferson  was,  moreover,  a  man  of  deep  religious 
sentiment.  This  is  shown  by  abundant  evidence 
in  his  writings  and  by  his  behavior  at  the  death  of 
his  wife,  his  beloved  sister  Jane,  and  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  Eppes.  At  one  time  his  studies  led  him  to' 
believe  in  Presbyterianism  as  the  clearest  theo 
logical  expression  of  the  teachings  of  Christ.  In 
1794,  as  related  in  another  chapter,  he  endeavored 
to  arrange  for  the  removal  to  America  of  the 
Calvinistic  college  of  Geneva,  Switzerland,  and 
planned  to  establish  the  entire  faculty  at  Charlottes- 
ville  as  the  nucleus  of  a  State's  university.  This 
was  the  first  step  in  the  development  of  the  idea 
that  afterwards  found  form  and  substance  in  the 
present  University  of  Virginia.  But  French  Cal 
vinism  did  not  commend  itself  to  the  practical- 
minded  Virginians.  Jefferson  appealed  to  General 
Washington  for  support  and  encouragement,  and 
urged  him  to  dedicate  the  property  presented  to 
him  by  the  Legislature  as  an  endowment  for  such 
an  institution.  Washington's  practical  mind  ques- 

323 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

tioned  the  expediency  of  importing  a  faculty  of 
theologians  unfamiliar  with  the  language  and  un 
sympathetic  with  the  religious  opinion  prevailing 
in  Virginia,  and  suggested  to  Jefferson  that  if 
teachers  were  to  be  brought  from  abroad  it  would 
be  better  to  seek  them  in  the  English  universities. 
Acting  upon  his  advice,  Jefferson  turned  to  Edin 
burgh,  and  endeavored  to  obtain  a  faculty  there. 
This,  however,  was  only  one  of  his  many  incon 
sistencies,  and  those  who  are  familiar  with  the 
incidents  of  his  life  will  not  be  surprised  to  learn 
that  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  he  commended  a  nursery 
of  the  gloomiest  and  cruelest  sort  of  Presbyterian- 
ism  and  a  seminary  of  Calvinists  as  the  two  best 
institutions  of  learning  in  the  world. 

"  You  know  well,"  he  writes  to  Wilson  Nicolas, 
"  that  the  colleges  of  Edinburg  and  Geneva,  as 
seminaries  of  learning,  are  the  two  eyes  of  Europe, 
of  which  Great  Britain  and  America  give  prefer 
ence  to  the  former,  but  all  other  countries  to  the 
latter,"  and  he  urged  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  to 
pay  the  expense  of  the  transfer  of  the  entire  faculty 
to  this  country  and  to  assume  the  financial  respon 
sibility  of  their  support  "  for  the  good  of  our 
country  in  general,  and  the  promotion  of  science." 

Later  in  life,  however,  under  the  influence  and 
teachings  of  Dr.  Priestley,  he  abandoned  Calvinism, 
and  adopted  a  creed  quite  similar  to  that  of  the 
Unitarians  of  the  present  day. 

During  the  later  years  of  his  life,  when  he  was 
past  eighty,  Jefferson  denounced  Calvinism  with 
his  customary  vehemence.  He  spoke  of  the  five 
points  of  Calvinism  as  "  a  blasphemous  absurdity," 
"  the  hocus-pocus  phantasm  of  a  God"  created  by 
John  Calvin,  which  "  like  another  Cerberus"  had 
"one  body  and  three  heads,"  and  declared  that 
in  his  opinion  it  would  be  "more  pardonable  to 

324 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

believe  in  no  God  at  all  than  to  blaspheme  Him 
by  the  atrocious  attributes  of  Calvin." 

Jefferson's  definition  of  a  church  was :  "  A  vol 
untary  society  of  men,  joining  themselves  together 
of  their  own  accord,  in  order  to  the  public  wor 
shiping  of  God,  in  such  a  manner  as  they  judge 
acceptable  to  Him,  and  effectual  to  the  salvation 
of  their  souls.  It  is  voluntary  because  no  man 
is  by  nature  bound  to  any  church.  The  hope  of 
salvation  is  the  cause  of  his  entering  into  it.  If 
he  finds  anything  wrong  in  it  he  should  be  as 
free  to  go  out  as  he  was  to  come  in,"  and  on  that 
principle  he  based  his  statute  for  religious  liberty, 
which  in  his  own  estimation  was  second  only  in 
importance  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
In  such  a  spirit  he  entered  upon  a  crusade  for 
freedom  of  thought,  as  well  as  freedom  of  action, 
and  held  religious  liberty  as  precious  as  civil  lib 
erty.  It  was  natural  for  him  to  do  so,  for  the 
laws  of  Virginia  regarding  religion  were  as  tyran 
nical  as  the  exactions  of  the  king. 

When  Jefferson  was  studying  law  he  discovered 
to  his  surprise  that  it  was  a  maxim  of  the  courts 
that  the  Bible  was  a  part  of  the  common  law  of 
the  realm,  and  that  upon  its  authority  witches 
were  hanged,  tithes  exacted,  profanity  punished, 
labor  on  Sunday  forbidden,  and  attendance  upon 
religious  worship  required.  After  patient  investi 
gation  he  wrote  an  argument,  which  will  be  found 
among  his  published  papers,  to  prove  that  this  was 
a  mistake.  He  said :  "  The  people  have  not  given 
the  magistrates  the  care  of  their  souls  because 
they  could  not.  They  could  not  because  no  man 
has  the  right  to  abandon  the  care  of  his  salvation 
to  another.  The  opinions  of  men  on  religion  are 
not  the  subject  of  civil  government  nor  under  its 
jurisdiction." 

325 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

He  traced  the  error  to  its  source  in  the  ancient 
law-books,  and  his  conclusion  was  that  the  words 
"  ancien  scripture"  as  employed  in  the  original 
meant  the  ancient  records  of  the  church,  instead 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  as  he  believed  they  had 
been  improperly  translated.  His  researches  began 
in  the  seventh  century,  when  Christianity  was  in 
troduced  into  England,  and  he  examined  every 
authority  and  source  of  information  without  being 
able  to  find  evidence  of  either  the  formal  or 
informal  adoption  of  the  Bible  as  a  part  of  the 
common  law.  He  was  convinced  that  the  monks 
had  improperly  interpolated  the  last  four  chapters 
of  Exodus  and  from  the  23d  to  the  29th  verses 
of  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
into  the  laws  cf  King  Alfred. 

However,  the  grant  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  con 
tained  an  express  proviso  that  the  laws  of  the 
colony  should  be  founded  "  on  the  Christian  faith 
now  professed  by  the  Church  of  England,"  and, 
as  soon  as  the  condition  of  the  people  permitted, 
it  was  divided  into  parishes,  each  of  which  was 
placed  under  the  care  of  a  minister  of  the  Anglican 
Church.  Several  of  these  ministers  had  been  de 
ported  from  England  for  bad  behavior.  Others 
had  emigrated  to  the  colonies  to  escape  prose 
cution  for  crime  and  to  avoid  expulsion  from  holy 
orders.  Some  of  them,  however,  were  men  of 
high  character,  great  piety,  and  zeal.  The  colonial 
parishes  were  compelled  to  accept  any  shepherd 
that  the  Bishop  of  London  assigned  to  them,  and 
they  were  considered  proper  fields  for  curates  who 
were  not  wanted  in  England.  The  most  of  the 
curates,  secure  for  life  in  their  glebes  and  salaries, 
devoted  Sunday  to  preaching,  and  the  rest  of  the 
week  to  sport  and  more  debasing  diversions,  ruling 
their  congregations  according  to  their  amiability, 

326 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

and  permitting  friendly  planters  to  pay  for  their 
rum  and  other  supplies  and  join  them  in  dissipa 
tion  and  disorder,  They  judged  their  rich  parish 
ioners  by  faith  and  not  by  sight,  and  estimated 
their  piety  by  their  professions  and  not  by  their 
acts. 

But  the  surplice  of  a  priest  could  not  conceal 
vice,  and  the  profession  fell  into  contempt.  Their 
influence  was  demoralizing;  their  habits  made 
them  indolent  and  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of 
their  parishioners.  The  greater  number  finally 
became  attached  to  the  households  of  the  wealthier 
families,  assisting  in  entertaining  their  guests  and 
spending  their  incomes,  and  those  who  were  not 
actually  dissolute  became  easy-going,  self-indul 
gent,  good-natured,  pleasure-loving  men  of  the 
world,  who  endeavored  to  make  up  in  forms  and 
ceremonies  what  they  lacked  in  spirit  and  truth. 
The  tales  that  are  told  of  the  clergy  of  Old  Vir 
ginia,  though  reported  by  clergymen  themselves, 
are  equal  to  the  traditions  of  the  priesthood  of 
Spain.  These  self-indulgent  gentlemen,  however, 
were  very  particular  on  points  of  theology,  and  in 
sisted  upon  the  recognition  of  their  authority  and 
the  enforcement  of  the  laws  that  related  to  the 
church.  The  intrusion  of  Presbyterians,  Quakers, 
Methodists,  and  other  dissenters  caused  great  in 
dignation,  particularly  as  these  frugal  embassadors 
to  the  poor  did  not  hesitate  to  denounce  the  indo 
lence  and  immorality  of  the  clergymen  of  the 
Established  Church,  and  made  them  indignant  in 
mind  if  they  did  not  always  awaken  their  con 
sciences.  Bishop  Meade  mentions  that  in  1740 
the  importation  of  the  first  infidel  books  into  Vir 
ginia  created  such  excitement  that  the  governor 
and  the  president  of  the  college  took  counsel  to 
gether,  appealed  to  the  authorities  at  London,  and 

327 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

new  laws  were  passed  more  cruel  than  those  of 
England  to  protect  the  true  faith. 

Of  New  England  intolerance  the  world  has 
heard  enough.  The  blue  laws  of  Connecticut 
were  a  forgery,  but  those  of  Virginia  were  genu 
ine,  and  the  code  combined  the  harshest  features 
of  the  Spartan  and  Mosaic  laws,  the  laws  of  Hol 
land,  and  the  worst  that  were  devised  by  the  Puri 
tans  of  England.  This  was  one  of  the  chief  rea 
sons  why  the  intelligent  young  men  of  Jefferson's 
day  were  on  ill  terms  with  the  church. 

The  first  law  passed  by  the  House  of  Burgesses 
of  Virginia  provided  that  "  no  man  shall  sell  or 
give  hoes  or  dogs  to  the  Indians,"  and  imposed 
the  penalty  of  death  upon  those  who  furnished 
them  arms  or  ammunition.  A  tax  of  one  pound 
of  tobacco  was  imposed  upon  "  all  persons  above 
the  age  of  sixteen,"  and  "  all  persons  whatsoever 
upon  the  Sabbath  day  shall  attend  divine  service 
both  forenoon  and  afternoon,  and  such  as  bear 
arms  shall  bring  their  pieces,  swords,  powder  and 
shot."  Immorality,  debauchery,  drunkenness,  gam 
bling,  duelling,  and  other  vices  of  gentlemen  were 
overlooked.  A  party  of  planters  might  play  cards 
until  the  church-bell  rang,  but  they  must  be  in 
their  seats  during  the  service  or  suffer  the  penalty. 
The  parson  might  be  engaged  with  them  in  the 
game,  when  it  was  their  duty  to  see  that  he  ar 
rived  on  time  to  perform  his  holy  office.  A  good 
churchman  might  impoverish  his  own  family  or 
another's  at  the  card  table,  or  roll  under  the  table 
in  a  drunken  stupor  every  night  after  dinner,  and 
lie  there  until  his  slaves  carried  him  off  to  bed 
without  losing  his  social  prestige  or  his  good 
standing  in  the  church,  but  Quakers  who  wore 
their  hats  in  church  or  in  the  presence  of  an  official 
of  the  colony  were  put  in  the  pillory.  The  cele- 

328 


MORALS   AND    RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

bration  of  the  mass  was  a  capital  offence.  Cath 
olics  were  not  allowed  to  teach  school,  carry  guns, 
own  horses,  or  give  testimony  in  courts  of  law. 
The  denial  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  was  punished 
by  death  at  the  stake.  Baptists,  Quakers,  Metho 
dists,  and  Presbyterians  were  forbidden  to  teach 
or  hold  service.  Those  who  did  so  were  arrested 
"  for  disturbing  the  peace,"  and  fined  so  many 
pounds  of  tobacco  "  for  preaching  the  gospel  of 
the  Son  of  God,"  as  Patrick  Henry  put  it.  If 
a  man  treated  a  clergyman — one  of  those  described 
— with  disrespect,  he  was  publicly  whipped  and 
required  to  ask  pardon  in  church  before  the  whole 
congregation  on  three  successive  Sundays.  For 
failing  to  attend  the  Sunday  exhortation  in  the 
catechism,  the  loss  of  a  week's  provisions  was 
the  penalty  for  the  first  offence;  for  the  second, 
whipping  and  the  loss  of  provisions  as  well;  for 
the  third,  imprisonment  and  whipping.  The 
thirty-third  article  of  the  code  relating  to  re 
ligious  duties  of  the  colonists  was  benevolent  and 
comprehensive,  and  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  rest : 

"  There  is  not  one  man  nor  woman  in  this  colony 
now  present,  or  hereafter  to  arrive,  but  shall  give 
up  an  account  of  his  and  their  faith  and  religion, 
and  repair  unto  the  minister,  that,  by  his  confer 
ence  with  them,  he  may  understand  and  gather 
whether  heretofore  they  have  been  sufficiently  in 
structed  and  catechised  in  the  principles  and 
grounds  of  religion;  whose  weakness  and  igno 
rance  herein  the  minister  finding,  and  advising 
them,  in  all  love  and  charity,  to  repair  often  unto 
him,  to  receive  therein  a  greater  measure  of  knowl 
edge;  if  they  shall  refuse  so  to  repair  unto  him, 
and  he,  the  minister,  give  notice  thereof  unto  the 
governor,  the  governor  shall  cause  the  offender, 
for  his  first  time  of  refusal,  to  be  whipped;  for 

329 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

the  second  time,  to  be  whipped  twice  and  to  ac 
knowledge  his  fault  upon  the  Sabbath  day  in  the 
assembly  of  the  congregation;  and,  for  the  third 
time,  to  be  whipped  every  day  until  he  hath  made 
this  same  acknowledgment,  and  asked  forgiveness 
for  the  same;  and  shall  repair  unto  the  minister 
to  be  further  instructed  as  aforesaid;  and  upon 
the  Sabbath,  when  the  minister  shall  catechise, 
and  of  him  demand  any  question  concerning  his 
faith  and  knowledge,  he  shall  not  refuse  to  make 
answer,  upon  the  same  peril." 

When  Jefferson  was  appointed,  with  his  old  pre 
ceptor,  Chancellor  Wythe,  and  Edmund  Pendle- 
ton,  to  revise  the  code  of  Virginia  he  wiped  off 
the  statute-books  all  laws  relating  to  worship  and 
religion  and  substituted  for  them  a  single  para 
graph  which  he  considered  of  an  importance  equal 
to  that  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence: 

"  No  man  shall  be  compelled  to  frequent  or  sup 
port  any  religious  worship,  ministry,  or  place  what 
soever;  nor  shall  he  be  enforced,  restrained,  mo 
lested  or  burdened  in  his  body  or  his  goods;  nor 
shall  he  otherwise  suffer  on  account  of  his  relig 
ious  opinions  or  beliefs;  but  all  men  shall  be  free 
to  profess,  and  by  argument  to  maintain,  their 
opinions  in  matters  of  religion ;  and  the  same  shall 
in  no  wise  diminish,  enlarge  or  affect  their  civil 
capacities." 

For  nine  years,  from  1777  to  1786,  Jefferson, 
Madison,  Wythe,  Patrick  Henry,  Edmund  Ran 
dolph,  Edmund  Pendleton,  and  other  liberals 
fought  the  clergy  and  the  conservative  aristocracy 
of  Virginia  to  secure  this  simple  solution  of  the 
religious  problem.  At  the  first  session  after  the 
new  code  was  submitted,  all  they  could  accomplish 
after  twenty-five  days  of  debate  was  the  repeal 
of  the  statute  imposing  tithes  and  penalties  for  not 

330 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

attending  church.  At  each  subsequent  session  of 
the  Legislature  they  gained  something.  In  1779, 
for  example,  all  forced  contributions  for  the  sup 
port  of  religion  were  surrendered.  The  church 
fought  hard  and  was  especially  tenacious  in  its 
efforts  to  retain  the  principle  that  the  civil  govern 
ment  had  the  authority  to  regulate  religious  belief. 
It  was  not  until  1786  that  this  point  was  surren 
dered  and  that  part  of  the  statute  repealed  which 
made  it  a  felony  to  deny  the  doctrine  of  the  Trin 
ity,  and  deprived  a  parent  of  the  custody  of  his 
children  if  he  could  not  subscribe  to  the  Episcopal 
creed. 

When  the  statute  for  religious  freedom  was 
finally  adopted  Jefferson  offered  an  amendment 
which  is  perhaps  unique  in  legislation,  for  it  was 
a  personal  admonition  to  all  future  Legislatures 
not  to  attempt  its  repeal : 

"  And  though  we  know  well  that  this  Assembly, 
elected  by  the  people  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of 
legislation,  has  no  power  to  restrain  the  acts  of 
succeeding  assemblies  constituted  with  power  equal 
to  our  own,  and  that,  to  declare  this  act  irrevocable 
would  therefore  have  no  effect  in  law;  yet  we  are 
free  to  declare,  and  do  declare,  that  the  rights 
hereby  asserted  are  the  natural  rights  of  mankind ; 
and  that,  if  any  act  shall  hereafter  be  passed  to 
repeal  the  present  or  narrow  its  operation,  such 
an  act  will  be  an  infringement  of  natural  rights." 

There  is  a  popular  impression  that  Jefferson 
forbade  religious  instruction  at  the  University  of 
Virginia,  but  the  contrary  is  the  case.  That  in 
stitution  is  usually  coupled  with  Girard  College 
as  an  example  of  atheistic  propaganda,  but  the 
motto  of  the  University  is  a  passage  from  St.  Paul 
selected  by  Jefferson,  and  by  his  orders  inscribed 
upon  the  frieze  of  the  rotunda  of  the  auditorium : 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

"And  ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make 
you  free." 

The  catalogue  of  the  institution  says  that  "  mo 
rality  and  religion  are  recognized  as  the  foundation 
and  indispensable  concomitants  of  education. 
Great  efforts  are  made  to  surround  the  students 
with  religious  influences,  but  experience  having 
proved  that  it  is  best  to  forbear  the  employment 
of  coercion,  the  attendance  upon  religious  exer 
cises  is  entirely  voluntary.  Prayers  are  held  every 
evening  and  divine  service  is  conducted  twice  on 
Sunday  in  the  University  Chapel  by  clergymen 
invited  from  the  principal  religious  denomina 
tions." 

The  rules  permit  all  ministers  and  students  who 
are  preparing  for  the  ministry  to  enjoy  free  of 
cost  all  of  the  privileges  of  the  University,  "  in 
cluding  tuition,  attendance  at  the  lectures  and  reci 
tations,  and  the  privileges  of  the  libraries  and 
laboratories."  Very  few  if  any  other  institutions 
are  so  liberal. 

In  the  regular  course  each  term  are  lectures  on 
religious  and  scriptural  subjects  such  as  "  Bible 
History,"  the  "Holy  Land,"  the  "Mosaic  Code 
of  Laws,"  the  "  Life  of  Christ,"  the  "  Life  of  St. 
Paul,"  the  "  Lives  of  the  Apostles,"  the  "  Kings 
of  Israel,"  the  "Literary  Features  of  the  Bible," 
the  "  Poetry  of  the  Bible,"  the  "  History  of  Proph 
ecy,"  and  similar  topics.  These  lectures  are  de 
livered  by  gentlemen  selected  for  their  learning, 
but  sectarian  teaching  and  theological  discussion 
are  prohibited. 

In  1822  a  Scotchman  named  Cooper,  and  a  son- 
in-law  of  Dr.  Priestley,  was  elected  professor  of 
chemistry  at  a  salary  of  one  thousand  dollars  a 
year.  When  it  was  discovered  that  he  held  views 
similar  to  those  of  his  father-in-law,  the  founder 

332 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

of  the  Unitarian  denomination,  and  that  he  denied 
the  Trinity  and  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  conservative  religious  sentiment  of  Virginia 
was  shocked,  and  a  violent  attack  was  made  upon 
the  young  institution  which  had  received  its  en 
dowment  and  expected  its  maintenance  from  the 
State  Legislature.  Much  to  their  chagrin,  the 
Board  of  Visitors  was  compelled  by  public  senti 
ment  to  cancel  the  contract  with  Professor  Cooper, 
but  paid  him  one  year's  salary  and  secured  him  a 
seat  in  the  faculty  of  the  University  of  South  Caro 
lina.  This  is  all  set  forth  in  Jefferson's  own  hand 
writing  in  the  records  of  the  Board  of  Visitors, 
and  led  to  a  declaration  of  the  policy  of  the  Uni 
versity  of  Virginia  with  reference  to  religious  in 
struction  which  was  offered  jointly  by  Jefferson, 
Madison,  and  Monroe  on  October  7,  1822.  It 
was  prepared  by  Jefferson  and  appears  in  his  hand 
writing,  announcing  the  intention  of  the  Board 
of  Visitors  to  place  all  religious  sects  upon  an 
equal  footing  in  the  University,  and  to  allow  each 
to  establish  and  maintain  a  divinity  school  under 
its  care,  "  provided  the  same  should  be  financially 
independent  and  were  not  a  burden  upon  the} 
endowment  of  the  institution."  It  was  resolved 
that  the  library  should  be  supplied  promptly  upon 
publication  with  the  writings  "of  the  most  re 
spected  authorities  of  every  sect,  and  that  courses 
of  ethical  lectures  should  be  delivered  at  regular 
intervals  for  the  education  of  the  students  in  those 
moral  obligations  in  which  all  of  the  sects  agreed." 
In  explanation  of  this  policy  of  non-sectarian 
education  Jefferson  prepared  a  paper  which  was 
made  public  at  the  same  time.  "  It  is  not  to  be 
understood,"  he  said,  "  that  instruction  in  religious 
opinion  and  religious  duties  is  precluded  because 
of  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  board  of  visitors 

333 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

to  the  best  interests  of  society.  On  the  contrary, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  board,  the  relations  which 
exist  between  man  and  his  Maker  and  the  duties 
resulting  from  those  relations,  are  among  the  most 
interesting  and  important  to  every  human  being, 
and  the  most  incumbent  upon  his  study  and  in 
vestigation." 

Dr.  Joseph  Priestley,  who  is  supposed  to  have 
been  chiefly  responsible  for  Jefferson's  religious 
views,  and  had  much  influence  in  modifying  them, 
was  one  of  the  most  illustrious  men  of  science  in 
the  eighteenth  century.  He  was  the  discoverer  of 
oxygen  and  the  inventor  of  the  soda  fountain. 
He  began  life  as  a  Presbyterian  minister,  but 
gradually  modified  his  views  until  finally  he  taught 
the  mild  theology  of  the  Unitarian  faith  and  may 
be  considered  one  of  the  founders  of  that  denomi 
nation.  After  leaving  the  pulpit  he  taught  school 
and  wrote  school-books,  which  were  for  many 
years  in  general  use  in  English-speaking  countries. 
When  Dr.  Franklin  went  to  London  in  1761  he 
described  to  Dr.  Priestley  his  experiments  in  elec 
tricity,  which  suggested  the  publication  of  the 
first  printed  volume  relating  to  that  science.  The 
work  was  remarkably  successful,  passed  through 
several  editions,  and  was  considered  an  authority 
during  that  generation.  While  living  in  Birming 
ham  Dr.  Priestley  wrote  a  reply  to  the  "  Reflec 
tions  of  Edmund  Burke."  This  aroused  the  in 
dignation  of  the  people,  who  attacked  his  house 
and  chapel,  burned  them,  smashed  his  apparatus, 
and  scattered  his  books  and  manuscripts  through 
the  streets  of  the  city.  Dr.  Priestley  made  a  claim 
for  four  thousand  pounds  against  the  city,  and 
after  nine-years'  litigation  was  awarded  twenty- 
five  hundred  pounds  to  compensate  him  for  the 
damage  committed  by  the  mob.  Lord  Shelbourne, 

334 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

whose  librarian  he  had  formerly  been,  gave  him 
an  annual  pension  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
for  life,  and  his  brother-in-law  settled  upon  him 
an  annuity  of  two  hundred  pounds.  Thus  secured 
against  poverty,  Dr.  Priestley  sought  more  con 
genial  surroundings  in  the  United  States.  He  was 
received  as  a  distinguished  scholar,  was  given  a 
public  reception  in  New  York,  declined  the  chair 
of  chemistry  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  a  fee  of  one  thousand  dollars  for  a  course  of 
scientific  lectures.  He  retired  to  a  farm  in  North 
umberland  County,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  con 
tinued  his  studies  and  kept  his  name  before  the 
public  as  the  author  of  school-books  and  works 
of  scientific  value.  His  published  volumes  number 
one  hundred  and  forty.  Dr.  Priestley's  religious 
views  made  him  the  object  of  frequent  and  bitter 
attacks  from  the  orthodox  clergy,  but  the  Franklin 
circle  in  Philadelphia  made  a  great  deal  of  him. 
He  was  the  most  conspicuous  member  of  the  Philo 
sophical  Society  after  Franklin's  death,  and  fre 
quently  preached  in  the  Unitarian  chapel  which  had 
been  founded  by  his  followers  in  Philadelphia  and 
was  regularly  attended  by  Jefferson. 

Another  reason  for  the  popular  belief  that  Jef 
ferson  was  an  atheist  was  found  in  his  refusal  to 
receive  the  rector  of  the  Episcopal  church  of  which 
he  was  a  vestryman  while  on  his  dying  bed.  His 
physician  has  left  an  unprejudiced  account  of  that 
circumstance,  as  follows : 

"  Upon  my  expressing  the  opinion,  on  one  oc 
casion  that  he  was  somewhat  better,  he  turned  to 
me  and  said,  '  Do  not  imagine  for  a  moment  that 
I  feel  the  smallest  solicitude  about  the  result;  I 
am  like  an  old  watch,  the  pinion  worn  out  here, 
and  a  wheel  there,  until  it  can  go  no  longer.'  On 
another  occasion  when  he  was  unusually  ill  he 

335 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

observed  to  the  doctor,  '  A  few  hours  more,  doc 
tor,  and  it  will  be  all  over/  Upon  being  suddenly 
aroused  from  sleep  by  noise  in  the  room,  he  asked 
if  he  had  heard  the  name  of  Dr.  Hatch  mentioned 
— the  Minister  whose  church  he  attended.  Upon 
my  replying  in  the  negative,  he  observed,  as  he 
turned  over,  '  I  have  no  objection  to  see  him,  as  a 
|kind  and  good  neighbor.'  The  impression  made 
upon  my  mind  at  the  moment  was,  that  his  religious 
opinions  having  been  formed  upon  mature  study 
and  reflection,  he  had  no  doubts  upon  his  mind, 
and  therefore  did  not  desire  the  attendance  of  a 
clergyman.  I  have  never  since  doubted  of  the 
correctness  of  the  impression  then  taken." 

His  critics  also  quote  a  memorandum  which  he 
furnished  to  a  young  friend  setting  forth  his  idea 
of  the  best  way  to  study  religion,  which  was  as 
follows : 

"  RELIGION. 

"In  the  first  place  divest  yourself  of  all  bias  in  favor  of 
novelty  and  singularity  of  opinion.  Indulge  them  on  any 
other  subject  rather  than  that  of  religion.  On  the  other 
hand  shake  off  all  fears  and  servile  prejudices  under  which 
weak  minds  are  severely  crouched.  Fix  Reason  firmly  in  her 
seat  and  call  to  her  tribunal  every  fact,  every  opinion.  Ques 
tion  with  boldness  even  the  existence  of  a  God;  because  if 
there  be  one,  he  must  more  approve  of  the  homage  of  reason 
rather  than  of  blindfolded  fear.  You  will  naturally  examine 
first,  the  religion  of  your  own  country.  Read  the  Bible  then 
as  you  would  Livy  or  Tacitus.  For  example  in  the  Book  of 
Joshua  we  are  told  that  the  sun  stood  still  for  several  hours. 
Were  we  to  read  that  fact  in  Livy  or  Tacitus,  we  should 
class  it  with  their  showers  of  blood,  speaking  of  statues, 
beasts,  etc.  But  it  is  said  that  the  writer  of  that  book  was 
inspired.  Examine  therefore,  candidly,  what  evidence  there 
is  of  his  having  been  inspired.  The  pretension  is  entitled 
to  your  inquiry  because  millions  believe  it.  On  the  other 
hand  you  are  astronomer  enough  to  know  how  contrary  it 
is  to  the  law  of  nature.  You  will  next  read  the  New  Testa 
ment.  It  is  the  history  of  a  personage  called  Jesus.  Keep 
in  your  eye  the  opposite  pretentious :  I.  Of  those  who  say 
he  was  begotten  by  God,  born  of  a  virgin,  suspended  and 
reversed  the  laws  of  nature  at  will,  and  ascended  bodily  into 
heaven;  and  2,  Of  those  who  say  he  was  a  man  of  iNegiti- 

336 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON 
(Painted  by  Thomas  Sully) 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

mate  birth,  of  a  benevolent  heart,  enthusiastic  mind,  who  set 
out  with  pretensions  to  divinity,  ended  in  believing  them, 
and  was  punished  capitally  for  sedition,  by  being  gibbeted 
according  to  the  Roman  Law,  which  punished  the  first  com 
mission  of  that  offence  by  whipping,  and  the  second  by  exile, 
or  death  in  furco.  See  this  law  in  Digest  lib.  48  tit.  19 
28,  30  and  Lipsius  lib.  2  de  cruce,  cap  2.  Do  not  be  fright 
ened  from  this  inquiry  by  any  fear  of  its  consequences.  If 
it  ends  in  a  belief  that  there  is  no  God,  you  will  find  incite 
ments  to  virtue  in  the  comfort  and  pleasantness  you  will 
feel  in  its  exercise,  and  the  love  of  others  which  it  will  pro 
cure  for  you.  If  you  find  reason  to  believe  there  is  a  God, 
a  consciousness  that  you  are  acting  under  his  eye,  and  that 
he  approves  you  will  be  a  vast  additional  incitement:  if 
that  Jesus  was  also  a  God,  you  will  be  comforted  by  a  belief 
of  his  aid  and  love.  Your  own  reason  is  the  only  oracle 
given  you  by  heaven ;  and  you  are  answerable,  not  for  the 
Tightness  but  for  the  uprightness  of  the  decision." 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  during  the  latter  years 
of  his  life  a  friend  and  admirer  of  Jefferson's, 
who  had  named  his  son  after  him,  requested  that 
he  would  write  a  letter  of  advice  for  his  young 
namesake.  Jefferson  accordingly  wrote  the  follow 
ing  beautiful  note  to  be  kept  until  the  young  child 
came  to  years  of  understanding : 

'""  To  Thomas  Jefferson  Smith. 

"  This  letter  will,  to  you,  be  as  one  from  the  dead.  The 
writer  will  be  in  the  grave  before  you  can  weigh  its  coun 
sels.  Your  affectionate  and  excellent  father  has  requested 
that  I  would  address  to  you  something  which  might  possibly 
have  a  favorable  influence  upon  the  course  of  life  you  have 
to  run;  and  I  too,  as  a  namesake,  feel  an  interest  in  that 
course.  Few  words  will  be  necessary  with  good  dispositions 
on  your  part.  Adore  God.  Reverence  and  cherish  your 
parents.  Love  your  neighbor  as  yourself,  and  your  country 
more  than  yourself.  Be  just.  Be  true.  Murmur  not  of 
the  ways  of  Providence.  So  shall  the  life  into  which  you 
have  entered  be  the  portal  to  one  of  eternal  and  ineffable 
bliss.  And  if  to  the  dead  it  is  permitted  _  to  care  for  the 
things  of  this  world,  every  action  of  your  life  will  be  under 
my  regard.  Farewell. 

"  TH.  JEFFERSON. 

"  MONTICELLO,  Feb.  21  st,  1825." 

In  addition  to  his  liberal  religious  views,  Jeffer- 
son's  critics  among  the  orthodox  churches  of  the  \ 

337 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

country  were  inclined  to  consider  his  attachment 
for  France  a  dangerous  tendency.  The  conserva 
tive  men  of  the  young  nation  considered  the  French 
people  reckless,  extravagant,  and  depraved,  and 
had  no  confidence  in  their  political,  moral,  or  re 
ligious  character.  Hence  it  was  not  unnatural 
for  them  to  look  with  apprehension  and  disfavor 
upon  a  politician  who  regarded  them  so  highly. 

While  he  was  President  Jefferson  refused  to  issue 
the  customary  Thanksgiving  and  Fast-Day  proc 
lamations,  on  the  ground  that  "  civil  powers  alone 
have  been  given  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  not  authority  to  prescribe  any  religious 
exercises."  But  nevertheless  he  believed  in  prayer, 
and  frequently  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Being  for 
guidance  and  protection.  In  his  first  inaugural 
address  as  President  he  invoked  "  that  Infinite 
Power  which  rules  the  destinies  of  the  universe 
to  lead  our  councils  to  what  is  best  and  give  them 
a  favorable  issue  for  your  peace  and  prosperity." 
"  I  offer  my  prayers  to  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the 
universe,"  he  said,  "  that  he  may  long  preserve 
our  country  in  freedom  and  prosperity."  "  I  join 
in  addressing  him  whose  kingdom  ruleth  over 
all." 

In  his  second  inaugural  address  President  Jeffer 
son  acknowledged  the  Divine  Power  and  invoked 
"the  favor  of  that  Being  in  whose  hands  we  are, 
who  led  our  forefathers  as  Israel  of  old  from 
their  native  land  and  planted  them  in  the  country 
flowing  with  all  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of 
life;  who  has  covered  our  infancy  with  his  provi 
dence  and  our  riper  years  with  his  wisdom  and 
power;  and  to  whose  goodness  I  ask  you  to  join 
with  me  in  supplication  that  he  will  so  enlighten 
the  minds  of  your  servants,  guide  their  councils 
and  prosper  their  measures,  that  whatsoever  they 

338 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

do  shall  result  in  good,  and  secure  to  you  the 
peace,  friendship  and  approbation  of  all  nations." 
"  That  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe  may 
have  our  country  under  his  special  care,  will  be 
among  the  latest  of  my  prayers." 

In  an  address  to  Washington  he  said,  "  We 
join  you  in  commending  the  interests  of  our  dearest 
country  to  the  protection  of  Almighty  God." 

To  the  Danbury  Baptists  in  1802  he  said,  "I 
reciprocate  your  prayers  for  the  protection  and 
blessing  of  the  Common  Father  and  Creator  of 
men." 

To  the  Baltimore  Baptists  he  said,  "  I  return 
your  kind  prayers  with  supplications  to  the  same 
Almighty  Being  for  your  future  welfare  and  that 
of  our  beloved  country." 

In  reply  to  a  complimentary  address  from  the 
Legislature  of  Virginia  he  wrote,  "  That  the  Su 
preme  Ruler  of  the  universe  may  have  our  country 
under  his  special  care,  will  be  among  the  latest 
of  my  prayers." 

Jefferson  frequently  expressed  his  disapproval 
of  foreign  missions.  "  I  do  not  know  that  it  is 
a  duty  to  disturb  by  missionaries  the  religion 
and  peace  of  other  countries,"  he  said,  "  who 
think  themselves  bound  to  extinguish  by  fire  and 
fagot  the  heresies  to  which  we  give  the  name  of 
conversions  and  quote  our  own  example  for  it." 
Nevertheless  he  gave  liberally  to  missionary  pur 
poses,  and  in  his  account-books  we  find  frequent 
entries  of  sums  of  money  paid  towards  the  sup 
port  of  churches,  missionaries,  and  religious 
schools.  During  a  single  year,  1803,  while  he 
was  in  the  White  House,  he  gave  one  hundred 
dollars  to  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  one  hundred  dol 
lars  to  a  church  in  South  Carolina,  fifty  dollars 
for  a  church  in  Alexandria,  and  one  hundred  dol- 

339 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

lars   "  to   Reverend   Mr.   Coffin  for  a  college  in 
Tennessee." 

A  random  examination  of  several  pages  of  his 
account-book  shows  the  following  contributions 
for  religious  purposes : 

"  1798,  Nov.  27.  Pd.  Mr.  B.  a  subscript,  for  mission 
aries  $15. 

"1800  Feb.  26  Pd.  5  dollars  in  part  for  $20.  subscript, 
for  a  hot  press  Bible. 

"  1801,  June  25.  Gave  orders  on  J.  Barnes  for  25  D. 
toward  fitting  up  a  chapel. 

"  1801,  Sept.  23.     Contribution  at  a  sermon  $7.20 

"  1802,  Ap.  7.  Gave  an  order  on  J.  Barnes,  for  50  dollars 
in  favor  of  Revd.  Mr.  Parkinson  toward  a  Baptist  meeting 
house. 

"  1802,  Ap.  9.  Gave  order  on  J.  Barnes  in  favor  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Smith  toward  rebuilding  Princeton  College,  100  dol 
lars." 

In  1804  Jefferson  contributed  fifty  dollars  to 
the  American  Bible  Society. 

There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  of  Jefferson's 
belief  in  the  Supreme  Being,  and  in  a  letter  to 
Adams  in  1823,  three  years  before  his  death,  he 
gave  his  views  as  follows :  "I  hold  without  ap 
peal  to  revelation,  that  when  we  take  a  view  of 
the  universe  in  all  its  parts,  general  or  particular, 
it  is  impossible  for  the  human 'mind  not  to  per 
ceive  and  feel  a  conviction  of  design,  consummate 
skill,  and  infinite  power  in  every  atom  of  its  com 
position.  It  is  impossible  I  say,  for  the  human 
mind  not  to  believe  that  there  is  in  all  this  de 
sign,  cause,  and  effect,  up  to  an  ultimate  cause, 
a  fabricator  of  all  things  from  matter  and  motion 
their  preserver  and  regulator,  while  permitted  to 
exist  in  their  present  form,  and  their  regeneration 
into  new  and  other  forms.  We  see  too,  evident 
proofs  of  the  necessity  of  a  superintending  power, 
to  maintain  the  universe  in  its  course  and  order. 
So  irresistible  are  these  evidences  of  an  intelligent 

340 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

and  powerful  agent,  that,  of  the  infinite  number 
of  men  who  have  existed  through  all  time,  they 
have  believed,  in  the  proportion  of  a  million  to 
one  in  the  hypothesis  of  an  eternal  pre-existence 
of  a  Creator." 

Jefferson  believed  in  a  future  life.  He  writes 
to  John  Dickenson,  "  Your  letter  was  like  the  joy 
we  expect  in  the  mansions  of  the  blessed,  when 
received  with  the  embraces  of  our  fathers,  we 
shall  be  welcomed  with  their  blessings  as  having 
done  our  part  not  unworthily  of  them." 

And  then  to  John  Cartwright :  "  Your  age  of 
eighty-four  and  mine  of  eighty-one  years  insure 
us  a  speedy  meeting.  We  may  then  commune 
at  leisure,  and  more  fully,  on  the  good  and  evil 
which,  in  the  course  of  our  long  lives,  we  have 
both  witnessed." 

In  a  letter  to  Charles  Thomson,  written  from 
MonticeMo  during  his  last  days,  he  said :  "  Say 
nothing  of  my  religion;  it  is  known  to  myself 
and  my  God  alone.  Its  evidence  before  the  world 
is  to  be  sought  in  my  life;  if  that  has  been  honest 
and  dutiful  to  society,  the  religion  which  has  regu 
lated  it  can  not  be  a  bad  one.  It  is  a  singular 
anxiety  which  some  people  have  that  we  should 
all  think  alike.  Would  the  world  be  more  beauti 
ful  were  all  our  faces  alike,  were  our  tempers, 
our  talents,  our  tastes,  our  forms,  our  wishes, 
aversions  and  pursuits  cast  exactly  in  the  same 
mould  ?  If  no  variety  existed  in  the  animal,  vege 
table  or  mineral  creation,  but  all  were  strictly  uni 
form,  catholic  and  orthodox,  what  a  world  of 
physical  and  moral  monotony  it  would  be !  These 
are  the  absurdities  into  which  those  run  who  usurp 
the  throne  of  God  and  dictate  to  him  what  he 
should  have  done.  May  they  with  all  their  meta 
physical  riddles  appear  before  that  tribunal  with 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

as  clean  hands  and  hearts  as  you  and  I  shall. 
There,  suspended  in  the  scales  of  eternal  justice, 
faith  and  works  will  show  their  worth  by  their 
weight.  God  bless  you  and  preserve  you  long  in 
life  and  health." 

Nor  is  there  any  doubt  concerning  Jefferson's 
opinion  of  the  Bible.  Mrs.  Ellen  W.  Coolidge,  a 
granddaughter,  says  that  at  the  time  of  the  death 
of  Mrs.  Eppes,  his  daughter,  he  sat  beside  her  life 
less  remains  for  hours  with  his  Bible  in  his  hands. 
"  He  has,  who  has  been  so  often  and  so  harshly 
accused  of  unbelief,"  she  writes,  "  in  his  hour  of 
intense  affliction  sought  and  found  consolation  in 
the  sacred  volume.  A  Comforter- was  there  for 
his  true  heart  and  devout  spirit  although  his  faith 
might  not  be  what  the  world  calls  orthodox." 
In  writing  to  Governor  Page  of  his  daughter's 
health  Jefferson  said,  "  But  whatever  is  to  be  our 
destiny,  wisdom  as  well  as  duty  dictates  that  we 
should  acquiesce  in  the  will  of  Him  whose  it  is 
to  give  and  take  away,  and  be  contented  in  the 
enjoyment  of  those  who  are  still  permitted  to  be 
with  us." 

He  left  several  letters  and  other  writings  bear 
ing  upon  the  Bible  as  a  literary  work  and  a  teacher 
of  morals.  "There  never  was  a  more  pure  and 
sublime  system  of  morality  delivered  to  man,"  he 
wrote  Dr.  Priestley,  "  than  is  to  be  found  in  the 
four  Evangelists." 

Speaking  of  David  the  Psalmist,  Jefferson  once 
wrote :  "  I  have  no  hesitation  in  giving  him  the 
palm  over  all  the  hymnists  of  every  language  and 
of  every  time.  Turn  to  the  I48th  Psalm.  Have 
such  conceptions  ever  before  been  expressed?" 

To  Isaac  Engelbrecht,  who  wrote  him  shortly 
before  his  death  for  a  sentiment  in  autograph, 
Jefferson  replied,  "  Knowing  nothing  more  moral, 

342 


4  I  am  resolved  what  to  do,  that  L.  /6. 


(lueflnand  on  m'aura  ote'  mon  ad-< 

r't^'mventauuVtuTm^JI^ 
5.  Alo.s  il  lit  veim    M-p.nvmtut 
r  laouudiM  debit.  ui-<d-  MM]  1.1.11- 

when  1  ant  put  out  oi  the  stewa.ni- 

•<liip,  t'r.'y  may   receive   me  into 

r>  So  h.e  called  evcrv  one   of  his 
(ord'a    !,•!)!(.  !•>  ,;>,•(,  hi  n,  and  said 

6.    11    rf>mdil  :    Oenl    IIKMIICS 

ihou  unio  my  1 

ml? 

et  ecm-en  promptemeut  un  autre 
de  ciuquaute. 
7   II  Mil  ensiiite  a  an  autre  :  Et 
toi,  Combieu  dais  -  tu  ?  11   dit  : 
Cent  rnesiue*  de  IVuinem.  Et  !'</- 
I'unome  lui  dit  :  Hepretta*  ton  bil* 

-ires  oi   oil. 
him,  Take  thy 
.•isiicklv.  und  wt 
7  Then  said  h 

s  ,i  !.     \n   hund 
wheat.     And   1 
Cake  tliv  bill,  in 
s  And  the  lor< 

<lone  wisely.:   fi 
this  world  are  i 
wiser  than  the  t 

\nd  he  Mud  unto 
bill,  and  sit  doW  i 
',ti:  fifty. 

„'  to  another,  And 
si  thovi  ?   And  he 
red    measures   oi 
u  said  unto  him, 
d  write  fourscore. 
commended  the 
because  he  had 
r  the  children   of 
i  their  generation 
hildrenof  light. 
,to  you,  Make  to 
Isofthemammcfflp 
tess  ;   that,  when 
y  receive  you  in* 
abit&tions. 
faithful  in  that 
is  faithful  also  iu 
that  is  unjust  in 
ist  also  \t\  much, 
e,   ye   have   not 
the  unrighteous 
will  commit  to, 
ue  n'cAf»  .? 
ve  not  been  faith- 
is  another  man's, 
•ou  that  which  is 

in  serve  two  mas- 
he  will  hate  the 
e  other  ;  or  elte 
H-  one,  and  dta* 
Ye  cannot  serfJ 
on. 
trisees  also*  who- 
heard   all   thef*T 

'  der'i<!eSlfe^ 

vmto  tlwW/W 

ue-vingf*. 
;  8.  El  In  nmitre  loua  cet  e'coiwroe 
iulidele  de  ce  qu'il  avoit  agi  avec 
ntbilete  ;    car    les  eulaiu  de  ce 
siecle  sont  plus  prudena  liau?  leur 
gfindtation,  que  les  enfant  de  !u- 
luiere.                   v/ 
o.  Et    moi  ,  ie   vous  dis  auSM  : 

chesses  injustes  ,  alin  que  quaiid 
vous     Tiendrez    a  manquer  ,  il* 
vous  revoivetudansles  tabernacle* 
e'tentels. 
io.  Celui  qni  est  fidele  dans  les 
petites  cboses  (  seru   aussi   fidele 
daus  les  grandes  ;  et  celui  qui  est 
injure   dans  Ie.i   petitea  cho«es  , 

\  •  ourselves  frien 
of  unrfgbteouai 
ve  fail,  they  ma 
to  everlasting  h 
10  He  that   is 
Mrlu'ch  is  least, 
much  ;   and  he 
the  least,  is  unj 
H  If,    therefoi 

fidele  dan*  le*  richcsses  inuTtea  , 

12.  Et  si  vous  u'avez  pas  ete  fi- 
deles  dans  ct  qui  est  aautrui  ."  qui 
vous  doiiueia  ce  qui  est  a  vous  ? 
i3.  Jvul  servileiu-  ne  peutservir 

mammon,    who 
your  trust  die  ti 
J[2  And  if  ye  ha 
fulinthat  which 
who  shall  give  ' 
your  own  ? 
l.lXo  servant  c.c 
ters  :  for  either 
one,  and  love  th 
he  will  hold  to  t 
pise  the  other. 
God  tti.d  mamm 
14  And  the  Pin 
were  covetous, 
things  :  and  the) 
15  And  lie  said 

it  pouy  «z<cnii-Dieuet  Mammon. 
1  1.  Les  I'havisiens  ,  qui  e'toicnt 

i  ii.  Et  it  leui-   dUJpPouf  jous  , 

1     :             j 

Jure  they  which  justify  yourselves 
.-for 


before    men  ;    but  Co«l  knoweth  ! 
hour   hearts:    for 'th.it  which  is 
piighiy  esteemed  amon^'  men  .is. 

•abomination  in  the  sij^lit  of C,,r 

L-is-i—:^  _J 


PAGE  FROM  JEFFERSON'S  BIBLE 

(Original  in  Smithsonian  Institution.  Washington) 


MORALS   AND   RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

more  sublime,  more  worthy  of  preservation  than 
David's  description  of  a  good  man  in  his  XVth 
Psalm,  I  here  transcribe  it  from  Brady  and  Tate's 
version."  Then,  notwithstanding  his  great  age 
and  lame  wrist,  he  copies  the  Psalm  in  full. 

When  he  was  a  law  student  Jefferson  wrote  an 
essay  on  the  "  Evidences  of  Christianity  from  the 
Standpoint  of  a  Lawyer,"  and  it  is  considered  an 
able  argument. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  objects  in  the  Smith 
sonian  Institution  at  Washington  is  known  as  "  Mr. 
Jefferson's  Bible."  During  his  retirement  at  Mon- 
ticello,  after  his  return  from  the  White  House, 
he  spent  several  months  in  the  preparation  of  an 
arrangement  of  the  New  Testament  which  he 
intended  to  publish  and  to  have  translated  into 
the  various  Indian  languages  as  the  basis  of  a  true 
religion.  It  is  a  little  leather-bound  volume,  evi 
dently  intended  for  an  account-book.  With  great 
neatness  and  care  he  pasted  upon  its  pages  four 
versions  of  the  New  Testament,  Latin,  Greek, 
French,  and  English,  in  parallel  columns.  The 
volume  is  made  with  the  scissors  and  paste-pot, 
and  a  few  interlineations  and  notes  in  Jefferson's 
minute  handwriting.  He  took  a  copy  of  the  New 
Testament  and  cut  from  it  and  threw  away  as 
worthless  every  verse  and  paragraph  that  to  his; 
mind  was  ambiguous  or  controversial,  every  state-  <: 
ment  of  fact  that  would  not  have  been  admitted 
as  evidence  in  the  court  of  justice,  and  all  dupli 
cations  in  the  narrative  of  the  life  of  Christ.  The 
remainder  of  the  gospels  and  the  epistles  are  then 
arranged  in  their  proper  chronological  order,  a 
passage  from  St.  Luke  being  sandwiched  between 
one  from  St.  Matthew  and  one  from  St.  John.  ; 
His  idea  was  to  present  the  best  account  of  every 
incident  and  fact  in  the  lives  of  Christ  and  His 

343 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

apostles  with  all  of  their  teachings  that  were  un 
disputed  and  that  required  no  interpretation. 

On  the  margins  are  explanatory  notes  and  refer 
ences.  The  index  refers  to  the  proper  place  of 
each  passage  in  the  ordinary  Testament,  so  that 
the  reader  may  compare  it  with  the  original  if 
he  desires  to  do  so.  He  cites  the  sections  of  the 
Roman  Law  under  which  Christ  was  tried,  and 
attaches  a  map  of  Palestine  showing  the  places 
mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  and  a  map  of 
the  world  showing  the  knowledge  of  geography 
at  the  time  of  the  crucifixion. 

In  a  letter  to  a  Mr.  Robinson,  which  evidently 
was  written  before  he  completed  this  work,  Jeffer 
son  refers  to  it  as  follows :  "  I  too  have  made  a 
wee  little  book  from  the  same  materials  which  I 
call  the  '  Philosophy  of  Jesus/  It  is  a  paradigma 
of  His  doctrines,  made  by  cutting  the  texts  out 
of  the  book  and  arranging  them  on  the  pages  of 
a  blank  book  in  a  certain  order  of  time  or  subject. 
A  more  beautiful  or  precious  morsel  of  ethics  I 
have  never  seen.  It  is  a  document  in  proof  that 
I  am  a  real  Christian;  that  is  to  say,  a  disciple  of 
the  doctrines  of  Jesus,  very  different  from  the 
Platonists  who  call  me  infidel  and  themselves 
Christians  and  preachers  of  the  gospel,  while  they 
draw  all  their  characteristic  dogmas  from  what  its 
authors  never  said  or  saw.  They  have  compounded 
from  the  heathen  mysteries  a  system  beyond  the 
comprehension  of  man,  of  which  the  great  reformer 
of  the  vicious  ethics  and  deism  of  the  Jews,  were 
He  to  return  to  earth,  would  not  recognize  one 
feature.  If  I  had  time  I  would  add  to  my  little 
book  the  Greek,  Latin  and  French  texts,  in  col 
umns  side  by  side,  and  I  wish  I  could  subjoin  a 
translation  of  Gassendi's  syntagma  of  the  doc 
trines  of  Epicurus,  which,  notwithstanding  the 

344 


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INDEX  TO  JEFFERSON'S  HIHLK 

COriginal  in  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washington) 


'  *  K 


MORALS    AND    RELIGIOUS   VIEWS 

calumnies  of  the  Stoics  and  caricatures  of  Cicero, 
is  the  most  rational  system  remaining  of  the  phil 
osophy  of  the  ancients,  as  frugal  of  vicious  indul 
gence  and  fruitful  of  virtue  as  the  hyperbolical 
extravagances  of  his  rival  sects." 


345 


XII 

JEFFERSON'S  SERVICES  TO  SCIENCE 

THE  most  striking  characteristics  of  Jefferson 
were  his  egotism,  his  industry,  and  his  comprehen 
sive  learning.  He  had  an  opinion  on  every  subject 
for  every  comer.  The  only  subjects  on  which  he 
confessed  himself  deficient  were  geology  and 
poetry.  No  problem  was  too  abstruse  for  him  to 
grasp.  He  seldom  asked  advice  or  assistance  from 
others.  He  was  an  infallible  oracle  to  half  the 
population  of  the  country  and  a  dangerous  'dema 
gogue  to  the  other  half,  but  he  was  universally 
recognized  as  a  man  of  scientific  as  well  as  literary 
attainments.  Franklin  was  the  first  president  of 
the  American  Philosophical  Society,  then  the  most 
learned  of  colonial  associations.  He  was  suc 
ceeded  by  David  Rittenhouse,  who  died  in  1796, 
and  after  him  came  Jefferson,  who  was  also  an 
active  or  honorary  member  of  nearly  every  literary 
or  scientific  society  in  the  United  States.  There 
is  scarcely  a  subject  in  the  entire  range  of  human 
inquiry  upon  which  Jefferson  did  not  express  his 
views  in  writing  with  fearlessness,  with  absolute 
faith  in  his  own  convictions  and  judgment.  He 
discusses  art,  architecture,  the  treatment  of  infants, 
meteorology,  music,  astronomy,  the  practice  of 
medicine,  the  breeding  of  sheep,  the  science  of 
government,  the  apparel  of  women,  the  origin 
of  meteoric  storms,  and  the  temperature  of  the 
moon  as  freely  as  politics  or  religion.  In  all  the 
sciences  he  advanced  propositions  and  solved  prob 
lems  with  equal  audacity.  In  criticism  he  was  caus- 

346 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO   SCIENCE 

tic  and  reckless,  and  commends  with  the  same  free 
dom  that  he  condemns.  He  rejects  the  Mosaic 
account  of  the  creation  and  the  flood  as  fiction, 
and  pronounces  the  Gospels  the  sublimest  code 
of  morals  ever  conceived.  He  would  select  mili 
tary  commanders  by  their  physiognomy.  'The 
ornaments  and  amusements  of  life,"  he  says,  "  are 
entitled  to  their  portion  of  attention.  Those  for  a 
female  are  dancing,  drawing  and  music.  Dancing 
is  a  healthful  exercise  and  graceful  amusement," 
he  said.  "  No  less  than  two  hours  of  each  day 
should  be  devoted  to  exercise,  for  a  strong  body 
makes  the  mind  strong."  "  I  think  it  is  lost  time," 
he  says  in  a  letter  to  Peter  Carr,  "  to  attend  lec 
tures  on  moral  philosophy,"  and,  almost  on  the 
same  date,  he  breathes  this  beautiful  sentiment  to 
David  Campbell :  "  I  am  sensible  of  the  mark  of 
esteem  manifested  by  the  name  you  have  given 
your  son.  Tell  him  from  me  that  he  must  con 
sider  as  essentially  belonging  to  it,  to  love  his 
friends  and  wish  no  ill  of  his  enemies." 

The  only  thing  Jefferson  declined  to  criticise 
was  poetry,  and  he  actually  confesses  his  inability 
to  do  so.  Although  he  constantly  read  and  quoted 
Homer,  Horace,  and  Virgil  in  his  student  days, 
he  said,  "  To  my  own  mortification,  I  am  of  all 
men  living  the  last  who  should  undertake  to  decide 
as  to  the  merits  of  poetry."  Nevertheless  he  was 
fond  of  Ossian.  He  objected  to  fiction.  He  held 
that  novels  "  were  a  great  obstacle  to  a  good  edu 
cation,  for  the  time  lost  in  reading  them  should 
be  instructively  employed.  For  a  like  reason  too 
much  poetry  should  not  be  indulged  in;"  but  like 
Washington  he  wrote  poems  occasionally.  Wash 
ington's  poems  were  amorous;  Jefferson's  were 
funereal  and  generally  concerned  a  future  life. 
Here  is  one: 

347 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

"  Shores  there  are,  blessed  shores  for  us  remain, 

And  favored  isles  with  golden  fruitage  crowned, 
Where  tufted  flow'rets  paint  the  verdant  plain, 

Where  every  breeze  shall  medicine  every  wound. 
There  the  stern  tyrant  that  embitters  life 

Shall  vainly  suppliant  spread  his  asking  hand ; 
There  shall  we  view  the  billows  strife, 

Aid  the  kind  breast  and  waft  his  boat  to  land." 

Two  days  before  his  death  Jefferson  told  Mrs. 
Randolph,  his  daughter,  that  in  an  old  pocket- 
book  in  a  certain  drawer  in  his  desk  she  would 
find  something  that  would  interest  her.  She  found 
these  lines : 

"  A  DEATH  BED  ADVICE  FROM  T.  J.  TO  M.  R. 

"  Life's  visions  are  vanished,  its  dreams  are  no  more, 
Dear  friends  of  my  bosom,  why  bathed  in  tears, 
I  go  to  my  fathers,  I  welcome  the  shore, 
Which  crowns  all  my  hopes  or  which  buries  my  cares. 

"  Then  farewell  my  dear,  my  loved  daughter  adieu, 
The  last  pang  of  life  is  in  parting  from  you. 
Two  seraphs  await  me  long  shrouded  in  death, 
I  will  bear  them  your  love  on  my  last  parting  breath." 

His  most  serious  literary  work  was  his  "  Notes 
on  Virginia,"  which  was  written  for  M.  de  Mar- 
bois,  the  French  ambassador,  who  asked  for  infor 
mation  upon  the  resources,  the  industries,  and  af 
fairs  of  that  State.  It  is  a  classic  in  literary  style 
and  in  the  treatment  of  the  subject,  and  illustrates 
his  thorough  knowledge  of  many  things.  All  the 
state  papers  issued  from  the  Department  of  State 
while  he  was  at  its  head  were  written  with  his 
own  pen.  There  were  no  assistant  secretaries  at 
that  time  and  no  clerks  competent  to  prepare  diplo 
matic  despatches. 

Jefferson  probably  wrote  more  letters  with  his 
own  hand  than  any  other  public  man  that  ever 
lived.  The  extent  of  his  correspondence  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  more  than  twenty-six 

348 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO    SCIENCE 

thousand  letters,  neatly  folded  and  briefed,  were 
preserved  by  him  and  carefully  filed  away  to  be 
bound  after  his  death,  with  copies  of  the  replies 
sent  to  more  than  sixteen  thousand.  These,  how 
ever,  were  only  a  small  portion  of  his  correspond 
ence.  He  retained  only  those  letters  which  were 
considered  of  future  usefulness  or  importance. 
Stenography  was  not  invented  at  that  time.  Every 
one  of  his  letters  was  written  with  his  own  hand 
and  with  great  care,  although  after  breaking  his 
wrist,  while  minister  to  France,  the  use  of  a  pen 
became  a  great  labor  to  him.  His  penmanship 
was  small,  plain,  and  legible,  every  letter  being 
perfectly  formed.  His  account-books  were  kept 
in  so  small  a  hand  that  some  of  the  entries  cannot 
be  read  without  a  magnifying-glass. 

Jefferson  was  ambidextrous.  He  could  write 
equally  well  with  either  hand.  When  his  right 
wrist  was  broken  he  learned  to  use  his  pen  with 
his  left  hand,  which  became  as  skilful  as  the  other. 
It  would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  have 
carried  on  his  extensive  correspondence  without 
being  able  to  relieve  his  right  hand  at  intervals. 
In  a  letter  to  John  Adams  in  1817  he  complains 
of  the  burden  of  his  correspondence.  "  From  sun 
rise  till  one  or  two  o'clock  in  the  day,  and  often 
from  dinner  to  dark  I  am  drudging  at  the  writing 
table,"  he  says.  "All  this  to  answer  letters  into 
which  neither  interest  nor  inclination  on  my  part 
enters  and  often  from  persons  whose  names  I  have 
never  heard  before.  Yet,  writing  civilly,  it  is  hard 
to  refuse  them  civil  answers.  Strangers  and  others 
in  the  most  friendly  disposition  oppress  me  with 
their  concerns,  their  pursuits,  their  projects,  in 
ventions,  and  speculations,  political,  moral,  relig 
ious,  mechanical,  mathematical,  historical,  etc,  etc, 
etc." 

349 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

Nearly  all  of  Jefferson's  letters  were  copied  be 
fore  he  mailed  them, — some  by  his  own  hand, 
some  by  the  hand  of  an  amanuensis,  but  a  great 
many  more  by  the  use  of  a  polygraph  and  finally 
by  a  letter-press  of  his  own  invention.  The  poly 
graph,  or  stylograph,  as  he  sometimes  called  it, 
was  an  instrument  which  produced  a  perfect  fac 
simile,  often  indistinguishable  from  the  original 
letter.  It  has  not  been  in  use  for  nearly  a  cen 
tury  except  as  a  toy,  but  the  original  used  by 
him  is  still  preserved  in  the  museum  of  the  Uni 
versity  of  Virginia,  and  is  described  by  Professor 
Francis  H.  Smith  of  that  institution  as  "  a  very 
ingenious  double  writing  desk,  with  duplicate  ta 
bles,  pens  and  inkstands.  The  pens  are  connected 
together  at  an  invariable  distance  by  a  system 
of  jointed  parallelograms,  with  two  fixed  centers, 
such  that  the  pens  are  always  parallel.  Whatever 
movement  is  impressed  upon  one  is  simultaneously 
by  the  connecting  linkwork  communicated  to  the 
other  pen.  Hence,  if  one  traces  on  a  sheet  letters 
or  figures,  its  companion  traces  at  the  same  time 
identically  the  same  forms  on  another  sheet.  The 
writer  therefore  produces  two  identical  pages  at 
the  same  time.  He  does  it  with  sensibly  no  more 
fatigue  than  if  he  were  using  one  pen  only,  for 
the  weight  of  the  pens  and  linkwork  is  supported 
by  a  strand  of  delicate  spring  wires  from  a  silver 
arm  extending  from  the  frame  of  the  box  above, 
out  of  the  way  of  the  writer.  By  this  polygraph 
the  copy  may  be  made  on  paper  and  with  ink  of 
the  same  kind  as  the  original." 

Jefferson  is  credited  with  being  the  inventor  of 
the  copying-press  now  used  by  everybody  who  de 
sires  to  preserve  his  correspondence.  The  first 
was  made  in  London,  and  was  so  gratifying  that 
he  ordered  duplicates  for  Adams,  Madison,  the 


1 1 


g-       73 
*<         > 

o      IH 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO   SCIENCE 

Marquis  de  Lafayette,  and  other  friends,  who  speak 
of  them  with  cordial  commendation.  Jefferson's 
letter-books,  however,  show  that  his  press  was  far 
from  perfect.  The  originals  in  many  places  are 
almost  entirely  obliterated,  and  the  greater  part 
of  the  copies,  which  were  made  by  pressure  on 
moistened  paper,  are  either  wholly  or  in  part  illegi 
ble.  Later,  when  his  press  was  improved  or  greater 
care  was  taken  in  copying  his  correspondence,  these 
results  do  not  appear,  but  the  defects  of  his  early 
letter-press  have  deprived  the  world  of  a  large 
part  of  his  writings  at  a  period  of  his  life  that 
was  more  interesting  than  any  other, — the  later 
years  of  his  residence  in  France  and  while  he  was 
Secretary  of  State  and  Vice-President. 

Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph,  the  literary  exec 
utor  of  his  grandfather,  was  engaged  for  several 
years,  with  the  assistance  of  his  mother,  his  wife, 
and  his  daughters,  in  examining  and  classifying 
the  great  mass  of  letters  and  other  manuscripts. 
The  collection  was  divided  into  two  parts,  one  com 
prising  documents  relating  to  his  public  life,  and 
the  other  his  family  and  personal  correspondence. 
The  first  collection  was  purchased  by  an  act  of 
Congress  in  1848,  and  is  now  deposited  in  the 
Department  of  State.  The  letters  are  bound  in 
volumes  according  to  their  chronological  order  and 
relation,  with  complete  and  ingenious  indices  which 
give  a  brief  synopsis  of  the  contents.  The  re 
mainder  of  the  letters  were  purchased  by  Thomas 
Jefferson  Coolidge,  of  Boston,  a  son  of  Ellen  Ran 
dolph  and  a  great-grandson  of  Jefferson.  The 
collection  was  presented  by  him  to  the  Massachu 
setts  Historical  Society  in  1898,  and  such  as  are 
of  public  interest  are  now  being  printed  under  its 
auspices,  with  valuable  historical  notes  and  refer 
ences.  Most  of  the  letters  in  the  archives  of  the 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

Department  of  State  have  been  twice  published, 
first  by  order  of  Congress,  and  again  in  a  private 
edition  skilfully  edited  by  Paul  Leicester  Ford. 

When  he  was  eighty  years  old  Jefferson  fell 
down  a  flight  of  steps  from  one  of  the  terraces 
at  Monticello  and  broke  his  left  arm,  which  gave 
him  much  pain  at  the  time  and  was  a  serious  in 
convenience  to  him  for  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

Jefferson  had  an  ingenious  way  of  marking  his 
books.  He  had  no  book-plate,  and  in  those  vol 
umes  purchased  for  the  Congressional  Library  there 
is  no  name  or  inscription  written  upon  the  fly 
leaves.  At  that  time  publishers  were  in  the  habit 
of  indicating  the  different  folios  of  their  books 
by  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  printed  at  the  bottom 
of  the  page, — folio  A,  B,  C,  etc.  It  was  Jeffer 
son's  habit  on  each  page  containing  the  folio  "J" 
to  write  in  microscopic  hand  "Jefferson,"  and 


1"  Thomas"  after  the  letter  "  T." 

Virginia  was  blessed  with  great  men  in  those 
days, — Washington,  Marshall,  Henry,  Madison, — 
and  other  patriots  of  the  Revolution  from  the 
colonies  had  talent  and  learning  as  wrell  as  pa 
triotism,  but\  Jefferson  was  probably  the  most 
accomplished  man  in  public  life  as  well  as  the 
most  versatile.  A  fine  mathematician,  an  astrono 
mer  who  could  reckon  latitude  and  longitude  as 
well  as  a  sailopf  and  who  calculated  the  eclipse  of 
1778  with  accuracy,  he  was  also  able  to  read  and 
write  in  Greek,  Latin,  French,  Spanish,  and  Ital- 
ianT/  He  carried  to  Congress  in  1775  a  reputation 
for  great  literary  acquirements.  John  Adams  notes 
in  his  diary  that  "  Duane  says  Jefferson  is  the 
greatest  rubber  off  of  dust  that  he  ever  met  with; 
that  he  has  learned  French,  Italian  and  Spanish 
and  wants  to  learn  German."  Jefferson's  political 
opponents  a  few  years  later  questioned  these  ac- 

352 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO   SCIENCE 

complishments  and  denied  that  he  had  more  than 
a  casual  knowledge  of  other  languages  than  French. 
Nevertheless  we  know  that  he  read  Homer,  Virgil, 
Dante,  and  Cervantes  in  the  original  as  readily  as 
Shakespeare  and  Milton,  and  that  he  was  reading 
the  Greek  tragedies  the  year  of  his  death.  He  said 
that  he  derived  more  pleasure  from  his  familiarity 
with  Greek  and  Latin  than  from  any  other  accom 
plishment,  and  that  of  all  literature  he  "  preferred 
the  ancients." 

Unfortunately  he  was  without  a  sense  of  humor. 
He  rarely  told  a  story  and  seldom  enjoyed  one,  and 
witticisms  were  wasted  in  his  presence. 

Early  in  life  Jefferson  formed  a  vocabulary 
of  such  objects  as  would  have  a  name  in  every 
language  because  of  their  presence  in  every  country 
and  in  every  station  of  life.  He  carried  on  this  work 
for  many  years  in  several  languages  and  endeavored 
to  persuade  Ezra  Stiles  and  Dr.  Sibley  to  continue  it 
until  they  had  produced  a  dictionary  covering  the 
familiar  words  in  all  languages.  He  had  a  plan 
for  spelling-reform  so  as  to  bring  it  nearer  to 
the  pronunciation  of  words.  Dr.  Franklin  pro 
posed  the  addition  of  two  or  three  new  letters 
to  the  alphabet.  Dr.  Thornton  threatened  a  re 
vision  of  the  whole  alphabet.  Jefferson  advocated 
the  dropping  of  the  letter  "  d"  from  such  words 
as  " judge,"  "bridge,"  "hedge,"  "knowledge," 
and  the  letter  "  u"  from  words  ending  in  "  our," 
such  as  "  honour,"  "  candour,"  "  rigour,"  as  after 
wards  was  done  by  common  consent.  In  a  letter  to 
Madison  he  said :  "  Where  strictness  of  grammar 
does  not  weaken  expression  it  should  be  attended 
to.  But  where,  by  small  grammatical  negligence, 
the  energy  of  an  idea  is  condensed,  or  a  word 
stands  for  a  sentence,  I  hold  grammatical  rigor  in 
contempt." 

23  353 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

While  Jefferson  was  in  Paris  a  visionary  French 
man  named  Quesnay  attempted  to  plant  at  Rich 
mond  an  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  with 
branches  at  New  York,  Baltimore,  and  Philadel 
phia.  It  was  to  be  affiliated  with  the  Royal  So 
cieties  of  Europe,  the  French  Academy,  and  other 
learned  bodies  for  the  advancement  of  science. 
Experts  were  to  be  sent  from  Paris  and  other 
European  capitals  each  year  to  instruct  the  Ameri 
can  youth  and  at  the  same  time  to  advise  the  gov 
ernment  in  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the 
country.  They  were  to  serve  on  scientific  com 
missions,  either  for  the  State  or  the  National 
authorities  or  for  private  corporations  in  inves 
tigation  and  exploration  and  in  any  other  duty 
requiring  scientific  knowledge.  The  Academy  was 
to  receive  one-half  of  their  fees  for  such  services, 
and  they  were  to  be  assisted  without  charge  by 
the  students,  who  would  thus  have  the  benefit  of 
practical  experience  in  the  natural  sciences,  chem 
istry,  botany,  mineralogy,  forestry,  and  engineer 
ing. 

Quesnay  had  come  from  France  with  Lafay 
ette  during  the  Revolution  and  had  served  with 
distinction  for  two  years  as  an  engineer,  but  his 
health  was  so  delicate  that  he  was  compelled  to 
retire  from  the  army.  He  was  well  known,  there 
fore,  to  most  of  the  Revolutionary  leaders,  and 
with  their  aid  and  encouragement  raised  sixty 
thousand  francs  by  subscription  and  erected  in  the 
centre  of  Richmond  a  building  which  has  long 
since  disappeared.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  with 
great  ceremony,  a  board  of  councillors  was  organ 
ized  with  Jefferson  as  president,  and  Quesnay  re 
turned  to  Paris  to  carry  out  that  end  of  the  scheme. 
Through  the  endorsement  of  Jefferson  and  the 
Marquis  de  Lafayette  he  was  received  with  favor 
354 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO   SCIENCE 

by  the  several  scientific  organizations  of  France, 
and  his  list  of  associates  embraced  the  most  dis 
tinguished  savants  of  the  country,  which  at  that 
time  was  the  centre  of  learning.  He  had  obtained 
but  one  professor  for  his  faculty  when  his  bril 
liant  scheme  was  overwhelmed  by  the  French 
Revolution,  and  Quesnay  disappeared  into  obliv 
ion.  Jefferson  makes  no  further  reference  to  him 
in  his  letters  and  his  fate  remains  a  mystery.  The 
building  at  Richmond,  however,  was  completed 
and  served  as  a  Capitol  for  the  new  State.  Several 
patriotic  conventions  met  there,  and  it  was  the 
scene  of  many  interesting  incidents,  including  the 
speeches  of  Patrick  Henry. 

Jefferson  afterwards  proposed  to  Joel  Barlow 
the  foundation  of  a  National  Academy  similar  to 
the  Institute  of  France  with  head-quarters  at 
Washington  and  branches  in  each  State,  hoping 
to  secure  by  cooperation  the  financial  assistance 
of  the  government  and  greater  results  for  the  bene 
fit  of  science  than  by  individual  efforts.  This  was 
the  essence  of  "  Paternalism,"  to  'which  as  a  demo 
crat  he  objected  on  theory,  but  which,  as  a  demo 
crat,  he  advocated  and  defended  as  promoting  the 
intelligence  and  education  and  therefore  the  pros 
perity,  the  happiness,  and  the  welfare  of  the  peo 
ple. 

In  his  own  scientific  work  Jefferson  was  inac 
curate,  impractical,  and  visionary;  as  a  patron  of 
science  he  was  zealous,  industrious,  and  benevo 
lent.  His  inquisitive  mind  sought  for  the  truth 
in  every  direction,  but  his  fertile  imagination  sug 
gested  deductions  that  were  sometimes  absurd  and 
often  fantastic.j  As  minister  to  France,  Secretary 
of  State,  Vice-President,  President,  and  after 
wards  in  his  retirement  he  never  lost  an  opportu 
nity  to  promote  a  scientific  inquiry  or  add  a  new 

355 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

fact  to  the  information  of  mankind.  His  strict 
construction  of  the  Constitution  and  narrows  views 
upon  the  subject  of  State  rights  never  prevented 
him  from  using  the  authority  and  money  of  the 
Federal  Government  for  the  advancement  of  sci 
ence  or  the  diffusion  of  knowledge.  Equally  gen 
erous  with  his  private  means  and  the  labor  of  his 
brain  and  hand,  he  was  continually  contriving  or 
suggesting  something  that  would  economize  the 
strength  and  increase  the  productive  power  of 
mankind. 

Not  long  after  coming  of  age  he  set  on  foot  a 
public  improvement  of  importance  to  his  neigh 
borhood.  The  river  Rivanna,  that  flowed  through 
his  farm,  although  a  considerable  stream,  was  so 
obstructed  as  to  be  useless  for  navigation.  He 
examined  its  channel,  and  perceiving  that  it  could 
be  cleared  for  twenty-two  miles  without  great 
expense,  collected  funds  for  that  purpose,  super 
vised  the  work,  and  enabled  his  neighbors  to  float 
the  produce  of  their  farms  to  market  at  a  nominal 
cost,  where  before  they  had  been  compelled  to  haul 
it  in  wagons. 

While  grading  the  top  of  Monticello  for  his 
house  he  noticed  that  some  of  the  workmen  used 
wheelbarrows  with  one  wheel  and  others  those  with 
two  wheels,  so  he  took  pencil,  paper,  and  watch 
in  hand  to  ascertain  which  was  the  more  advan 
tageous.  He  found  that  Julius  Shard  in  three  min 
utes  filled  a  two-wheeled  barrow  which  held  four 
times  as  much  as  that  with  one  wheel,  and  wheeled 
it  thirty  yards  in  a  minute  and  a  half,  the  same 
time  required  to  move  the  one-wheeled  barrow 
the  same  distance.  As  the  two-wheeled  barrow 
was  thus  four  times  the  better,  he  ordered  it  used 
thereafter. 

He  once  told  a  grandson  that  from  the  time 
356 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO    SCIENCE 

when,  as  a  boy,  he  had  turned  off  wearied  from 
play  and  first  found  pleasure  in  books,  he  had 
never  sat  down  in  idleness.  His  greed  for  knowl 
edge  was  insatiable,  and  he  eagerly  seized  all  means 
of  obtaining  it.  It  was  his  habit,  in  his  inter 
course  with  all  classes  of  men, — the  mechanic  as 
well  as  the  man  of  science, — to  turn  the  conver 
sation  upon  that  subject  with  which  his  companion 
was  best  acquainted,  whether  it  was  farming,  shoe- 
making,  astronomy,  the  anatomy  of  the  human 
body,  or  the  theory  of  an  extinct  species  of  ani 
mals.  Having  drawn  all  the  information  his  com 
panion  possessed,  he  noted  it  down  in  his  memo 
randum-book,  arranging  it  methodic  lly  and  fixing 
it  in  his  mind.  Mathematics  was*  his  favorite 
study.  "  We  have  no  theories  ther-e,"  he  used  to 
say,  "  no  uncertainties  remain  on  the  mind ;  all 
is  demonstration  and  satisfaction."  While  in  Paris 
he  studied  balloon  ascensions  with  great  care,  and 
wrote  several  lengthy  papers  upon  what  he  calls 
"  the  aeronautical  art."  He  advocated  the  appli 
cation  of  chemistry  to  the  common  affairs  of  life. 
"  I  have  wished  to  see  chemistry  applied  to  do 
mestic  objects,  to  malting,  brewing,  making  cider, 
bread,  butter,  cheese,  soap,  and  the  incubation  of 
eggs,"  he  said. 

Jefferson  was  the  first  to  introduce  into  America 
"the  threshing  machine,  which  may  be  moved  by 
water  or  horses."  "  Fortunately  the  workman  who 
made  it,  a  mill  wright,  is  come  in  the  same  vessel 
to  America,"  he  says.  "  I  have  written  to  per 
suade  him  to  go  on  immediately  to  Richmond, 
offering  him  the  use  of  my  model  to  exhibit,  and 
to  give  him  letters  to  get  him  into  immediate  em 
ploy  in  making  them."  While  he  was  in  Europe 
he  endeavored  to  discover  the  secrets  of  the  French 
perfumery  manufacturers,  and  frequently  inter- 

357 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

viewed  chemists  on  that  subject,  hoping  to  intro 
duce  the  art  into  Virginia.  An  English  writer 
who  saw  much  of  him  while  he  was  at  the  head 
of  the  legation  in  Paris  testifies  that  he  was  "  al- 
w.ays  on  the  lookout  for  new  ideas  to  send  home." 

The  Marquis  de  Chastellux  found  Jefferson  pro 
ficient  in  natural  sciences,  particularly  in  meteor 
ology. v  He  had  made,  in  conjunction  with  Pro 
fessor  Madison,  of  William  and  Mary,  a  series 
of  observations  of  the  ruling  winds  at  Williams- 
burg  and  Monticello,  and  discovered  that  while 
the  northeas ; '  wind  had  blown  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seven^  times  at  Williamsburg,  it  had  blown 
but  thirty-tvijty'  times  at  Monticello.  He  kept  a 
record  of  the  weather,  the  temperature,  the  rain, 
and  the  wind  for  nearly  half  a  century,  and  it  can 
be  found  in  his  note-books.  Among  his  scientific 
instruments  at  Monticello  he  had  pedometers,  mi 
croscopes,  theodolites,  telescopes,  thermometers, 
protractors,  hydrometers,  botanical  microscopes, 
an  air-pump,  electrical  batteries,  and  magnetic 
needles. 

Jefferson  had  more  or  less  knowledge  of  anat 
omy,  civil  engineering,  physics,  mechanics,  meteor 
ology,  astronomy,  architecture,  and  botany.  He 
was  so  familiar  with  every  subject  discussed  by 
ordinary  men  and  talked  so  fluently  and  with  such 
confidence  that  the  people  of  Virginia  considered 
him  a  monument  of  learning.  The  story  goes 
that  on  one  occasion,  while  stopping  at  an  inn, 
he  spent  an  evening  with  a  stranger  from  the 
North,  a  highly  educated  man,  who  was  so  charmed 
with  his  conversation  and  amazed  at  his  learning 
that  he  inquired  of  the  landlord  who  his  companion 
might  be.  "  When  he  spoke  of  law,"  said  the 
stranger,  "  I  thought  he  was  a  lawyer ;  when  he 
talked  about  mechanics,  I  was  sure  he  was  an 

358 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO   SCIENCE 

engineer;  when  he  got  into  medicine,  it  was  evi 
dent  that  he  was  a  physician;  when  he  discussed 
theology,  I  was  convinced  that  he  must  be  a  clergy 
man;  when  he  talked  of  literature,  I  made  up  my 
mind  that  I  had  run  against  a  college  professor 
who  knew  everything." 

Many  of  the  theories  which  Jefferson  accepted 
and  advanced  have  since  been  rejected  by  modern 
science,  but  in  several  lines  of  inquiry  he  was 
ahead  of  his  age  in  reading  and  investigation, 
and  was  quite  in  advance  of  contemporary  scholars 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  because  of  his  oppor 
tunities  of  study  in  France.  He  attempted  at  one 
time  to  dispute  Newton's  theory  of  the  rainbow. 
He  was  very  credulous  for  a  man  of  his  learning 
and  experience,  and  among  other  things  accepted 
the  theory  that  the  Creek  Indians  of  Georgia  were 
the  descendants  of  Dido's  Carthaginian^  and  that 
their  ancestors  had  been  sailors  of  Hanno's  lost 
fleet.  He  believed  and  frequently  recited  a  story 
told  him  by  a  fur  trader  that  on  the  Upper  Mis 
souri  River,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone, 
there  was  a  mountain  of  pure  salt  eighty  miles 
long  and  forty  miles  wide.  He  believed  that  there 
was  a  large  herd  of  mammoths  wandering  wild 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  had  several  other 
fantastic  ideas  concerning  the  resources  of  the 
Louisiana  Territory. 

Jefferson  had  a  very  poor  opinion  of  geology. 
Of  all  the  sciences  he  took  the  least  interest  in  it, 
because  in  his  judgment  it  had  "  a  limited  useful 
ness."  He  "could  not  see  any  practical  impor 
tance  in  knowing  whether  the  earth  was  six  thou 
sand  or  six  million  years  old,  and  the  different 
formations  were  of  no  consequence  so  long  as 
they  were  not  composed  of  coal,  iron,  or  other 
useful  minerals."  "  The  skin  deep  scratches  which 

359 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

we  can  make  or  find  on  the  surface  of  the  earth," 
he  said,  "do  not  repay  our  time  with  as  certain 
and  useful  deductions  as  the  pursuit  of  some  other 
branches."  He  wrote  a  great  deal  on  palaeontology, 
however,  even  before  it  was  recognized  as  a  sci 
ence.  He  was  curious  about  petrifactions  and 
fossils,  and  in  discussing  those  that  came  under 
his  observation  advanced  theories,  perhaps  acci 
dental,  that  have  since  been  fully  substantiated. 
He  contended  that  many  animals  then  unknown 
to  zoology  were  wandering  wild  in  the  Louisiana 
Territory  upon  the  prairies  and  in  the  mountains, 
and  to  the  end  of  life  hoped  that  the  explorers 
would  bring  into  captivity  one  of  the  gigantic 
creatures  whose  bones  he  had  examined  with  such 
interest,  in  order  that  he  might  have  an  oppor 
tunity  of  seeing  him  alive.  "  Such  is  the  economy 
of  nature,"  he  wrote,  "  that  no  instance  can  be 
produced  of  her  having  permitted  any  race  of  her 
animals  to  become  extinct." 

He  had  other  amusing  theories,  which,  however, 
were  at  that  day  maintained  by  the  leading  minds 
of  Europe  and  were  readily  accepted  by  the  far 
mer-lawyer  of  Virginia.  He  collected  a  large 
amount  of  data  by  personal  inquiry  and  investi 
gation  to  prove  that  cold  and  moisture  rather 
than  heat  and  dryness  increased  the  size  of  ani 
mals;  that  the  largest  animals  were  found  in  the 
coldest  climates.  This  was  contrary  to  the  facts 
as  known  at  that  time.  The  largest  animals  then 
known  to  natural  history  were  elephants  and 
camels,  whose  habitat  was  the  torrid  zone  of 
Asia  and  Africa,  while  in  the  arctics  seals  and 
polar  bears  and  walruses  only  were  found.  But 
Jefferson  stubbornly  insisted  that  there  must  be 
undiscovered  beasts  among  the  ice-bound  regions 
of  the  earth  that  would  exceed  in  size  anything 

360 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO    SCIENCE 

in  the  tropics,  because  cold  and  moisture  must 
necessarily  increase  their  growth,  and,  curiously 
enough,  the  largest  prehistoric  mammals  have  been 
found  buried  in  the  snows  of  Siberia.  He  prepared 
a  table  giving  a  list  of  the  twenty-six  quadrupeds 
common  to  both  Europe  and  America.  Of  these 
seven  were  found  larger  in  America  than  in 
Europe,  seven  of  equal  size,  but  the  data  concern 
ing  the  other  twelve  was  not  convincing.  He 
wrote  a  long  and  labored  article  to  prove  that  the 
domestic  animals  of  Europe  were  larger  and 
heavier  than  those  of  America,  but  predicted  that 
the  latter  would  improve  and  reach  an  equal  size 
with  care  and  proper  food. 

With  rash  generalization  and  hasty  judgment, 
based  upon  his  own  limited  experience  and  obser 
vation,  he  entered  into  a  controversy  with  a  cele 
brated  French  naturalist  to  prove  that  the  animals 
in  America  were  superior  to  those  of  Europe  in 
strength  and  general  utility. 

Every  bold  and  novel  theory  controverting  con 
ventional  ideas  was  fascinating  to  Jefferson, 
whether  it  related  to  politics,  religion,  or  science. 
He  was  a  daring  experimenter;  he  loved  to  de 
velop  theories  and  follow  them  into  new  lines. 
He  had  a  controversy  in  France  concerning  the 
origin  of  the  marine  shells  that  are  found  on  the 
summits  of  mountains.  Were  they  deposited  by 
the  flood  of  Noah,  or  had  the  earth  risen  from 
the  sea  in  volcanic  convulsion,  or  did  they  grow 
like  crystals  by  virtue  of  the  same  force  in  nature 
that  shaped  stones  into  fantastic  forms?  The 
theory  of  shell  growth  was  popular.  It  was 
advocated  by  Voltaire,  who  denied  the  Biblical 
account  of  the  creation;  but  Jefferson,  with  un 
usual  caution,  declined  to  commit  himself,  and  ad 
vised  his  friends  to  postpone  final  judgment  until 

361 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

they  had  further  light  on  the  subject.  He  was 
proud  of  his  attainments  in  natural  history,  and 
particularly  of  their  recognition  by  the  great  natu 
ralist,  Buffon,  to  whom  he  sent  specimens  and 
information.  With  the  flattery  of  a  French  cour 
tier,  Buffon  wrote  Jefferson,  "  I  should  have  con 
sulted  you,  sir,  before  publishing  my  natural  his 
tory  and  then  I  should  have  been  sure  of  the 
facts."  This  so  exalted  his  appreciation  of  his 
ability  in  that  direction  that  he  was  shortly  after 
led  into  a  mortifying  error. 

In  Greenbriar  County,  Virginia,  in  1796,  a  de 
posit  of  bones,  supposed  to  be  those  of  a  mam 
moth,  were  found  and  sent  to  Monticello,  where 
Jefferson  set  them  up  and  pronounced  them  to  be 
those  of  "  a  carnivorous  clawed  animal  entirely 
unknown  to  science."  A  curious  sight  might  have 
been  witnessed  by  people  who  lived  along  the 
route  of  travel  between  Monticello  and  Philadel 
phia  when  the  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
on  his  way  to  take  the  oath  of  office  and  assume 
the  second  place  in  the  gift  of  the  nation,  carried 
a  wagon-load  of  bones  for  his  baggage.  He  de 
livered  them  to  Dr.  Wistar,  the  naturalist  of  the 
American  Philosophical  Society,  with  a  labored 
report  under  date  of  March  10,  1797,  entitled, 
"  A  Memoir  of  the  Discovery  of  Certain  Bones 
of  an  Unknown  Quadruped,  of  the  Clawed  Kind, 
in  the  Western  Part  of  Virginia." 

Dr.  Wistar  at  a  glance  pronounced  them  the 
bones  of  the  common  sloth,  or  "  giant  edentate," 
and  showed  Jefferson  other  specimens  of  the  same 
sort.  The  Vice-President  was  greatly  humiliated, 
and  the  scientist  called  it  "  Megalonyx  Jeffersonii," 
a  name  by  which  the  animal  has  since  been  known 
to  naturalists.  Fortunately  for  his  sensitive  na 
ture,  Jefferson's  lack  of  humor  prevented  him  from 

362 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO   SCIENCE 

recognizing  the  satire.  The  bones  are  still  ex 
hibited  at  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  at 
Philadelphia. 

In  1 80 1,  during  the  exciting  contest  over  the 
Presidency,  we  find  him  carrying  on  a  learned 
correspondence  with  Dr.  Wistar  over  some  bones 
of  a  mammoth  that  were  discovered  in  Ulster 
County,  New  York;  and  in  1808,  when  the  ex 
citement  over  the  embargo  of  commerce  and  the 
complications  with  Great  Britain  were  at  their 
height,  he  had  a  carload  of  specimens  from  the 
Big  Bone  Lick  spread  over  the  floors  of  the  White 
House.  Dr.  Wistar  came  over  from  Philadelphia, 
selected  what  he  wanted  for  the  American  Philo 
sophical  Society,  and  Jefferson  sent  the  rest  of 
the  bones  to  Paris. 

About  this  time  William  Cullen  Bryant,  who 
was  just  beginning  to  send  verses  to  the  news 
papers,  wrote  a  satirical  poem  on  the  President's 
passion  for  natural  history: 

"  Go,  wretch,  resign  the  presidential  chair, 
Disclose  thy  secret  measures,  foul  or  fair. 
Go !     Search  with  curious  eyes  for  horned  frogs, 
Mid  the  wild  wastes  of  Louisianian  bogs; 
Or  where  the  Ohio  rolls  its  turbid  streams, 
Dig  for  huge  bones,  thy  glory  and  thy  theme." 

Jefferson's  plan  for  building  a  navy  was  fan 
tastic.  He  proposed  the  partial  construction  of  a 
large  number  of  ships,  to  be  left  unfinished  on  the 
stocks  in  different  harbors  along  the  Atlantic  coast 
until  such  a  time  as  they  might  be  needed,  when, 
according  to  his  theory,  half  the  time  necessary 
to  build  complete  ships  could  be  saved,  and  half 
the  expense  of  construction  could  be  avoided  by 
not  completing  them  until  there  was  occasion  for 
their  use.  Furthermore,  the  government  could 
save  the  interest  on  the  money  they  would  cost 

363 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

and  take  advantage  of  progress  in  nautical  science 
and  the  improvements  made  in  machinery  and 
equipment  in  the  meantime.  This  idea  seems  to 
have  been  suggested  to  him  during  a  visit  to 
Venice,  where,  he  says,  "  there  were  then  ships 
lying  on  their  original  stocks  ready  for  launching 
at  any  moment  which  had  been  so  for  eighty 
years."  He  reasoned  out  this  plan  in  great  detail, 
and  had  a  model  made  and  exhibited  at  the  Presi 
dent's  house,  but,  he  says,  "  the  advocates  of  a 
navy  did  not  fancy  it.  Ridicule  was  also  resorted 
to,  which  is  the  ordinary  substitute  for  reason 
when  that  fails.  Having  no  end  in  view  in  this 
proposition  but  to  combine  for  the  public  a  pro 
vision  for  defense  with  economy  for  its  preserva 
tion,  I  have  thought  no  more  of  it  since." 

Jefferson  was  one  of  the  earliest  believers  in  sub 
marine  boats  and  torpedoes,  and  in  letters  to  Robert 
Fulton  in  1807  advocated  the  education  of  "a 
corps  of  young  men  trained  to  such  a  service." 
^Jefferson  was  the  father  of  fast  mails.  While 
Secretary  of  State  he  performed  the  duties  now 
intrusted  to  the  Postmaster-General,  and  arranged 
with  Colonel  Pickering  to  carry  out  a  dashing 
scheme  of  sending  the  mail  at  the  furious  rate 
of  one  hundred  miles  a  day.  His  idea  was  that 
public  coaches  could  be  utilized  for  the  service; 
but  as  they  only  travelled  by  day,  he  wanted  to 
send  the  mail  along  through  the  night  by  mounted 
carriers  to  catch  a  stage  at  a  convenient  point  the 
next  morning.  "I  opened  to  the  President,"  he 
says,  "a  proposition  for  doubling  the  velocity  of 
the  post  riders,  who  now  travel  about  fifty  miles 
a  day  who  might  without  difficulty  go  a  hundred." 

His  knowledge  of  astronomy  was  probably  as 
advanced  as  that  of  any  layman  of  his  generation. 
He  had  a  decided  taste  for  it,  and  enjoyed  mathe- 

364 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO   SCIENCE 

matical  computations.  In  a  letter  to  Melatiah  Nash 
in  1811  he  makes  some  suggestions  as  to  the  im 
provement  of  almanacs,  and  thinks  it  important 
that  they  include  an  equation  of  time,  "  which  is 
essential  to  the  regulation  of  our  clocks  and 
watches." 

He  gives  a  learned  account  of  the  almanacs  of 
antiquity  and  their  astronomical  features.  He  was 
equally  interested  in  American  antiquities,  and 
while  president  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of 
Philadelphia,  and  afterwards  President  of  the 
United  States,  encouraged  the  exploration  of  In 
dian  mounds  and  other  prehistoric  relics  in  the 
Western  country. 

He  was  deeply  interested  in  arboriculture,  and 
introduced  several  varieties  of  vines  and  trees  from 
France.  There  was  no  limit  to  his  services  to 
the  unskilled  agriculture  of  his  own  country.  In 
Charleston  and  Philadelphia  there  were  agricultural 
societies  to  which  he  sent  information,  seeds,  roots, 
nuts,  and  plants  while  he  was  in  Europe.  He  tried 
to  introduce  olive  culture  into  the  Southern  States, 
and  returns  again  and  again  to  this  subject  in  his  let 
ters.  He  saw  the  great  usefulness  of  the  olive-tree 
in  Europe  "  because  of  its  hardiness,  its  fruitfulness, 
the  low  quality  of  the  soil  in  which  it  flourishes, 
and  the  agreeable  flavor  it  imparts  to  many  viands 
otherwise  tasteless  or  disagreeable."  The  culture 
was  begun  with  enthusiasm,  but,  whether  from 
want  of  skill,  perseverance,  the  unsuitableness  of 
the  climate,  or  excessive  richness  of  the  soil,  the 
trees  did  not  flourish. 

Rice  was  another  of  his  agricultural  hobbies. 
He  sent  to  Charleston  specimens  of  all  the  several 
kinds  of  rice  sold  in  Paris.  Seeing  that  the  Ital 
ians  cleaned  their  rice  by  mills  similar  to  those 
used  in  South  Carolina,  he  concluded  that  the 

365 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

Italian  rice  was  of  a  better  quality  and  desired 
to  send  seed  to  his  friends.  At  that  time  no  one 
was  allowed  to  send  rice-seed  out  of  Italy.  Fall 
ing  back  on  what  he  terms  "  the  higher  law,"  Jef 
ferson  induced  a  muleteer  to  run  a  couple  of  sacks 
across  the  Apennines.  Having  no  faith  in  the 
muleteer's  honesty,  he  filled  the  pockets  of  his  coat 
and  overcoat  with  the  best  rice  of  Italy.  The 
muleteer  failed  to  reappear,  but  the  small  store 
from  his  pockets  reached  the  president  of  the  Ag 
ricultural  Society  of  South  Carolina,  who  distrib 
uted  it  among  the  planters,  a  dozen  or  more  grains 
to  each.  These  were  carefully  sown  and  watched, 
and  were  the  origin  of  our  present  staple, — the  best 
rice  in  the  world. 

Jefferson  was  a  "book"  farmer.  In  arranging 
his  system  he  betrayed  a  mathematical  taste.  He 
divided  his  cultivated  lands  into  four  farms  of 
two  hundred  and  eighty  acres  each,  and  each  farm 
into  seven  fields  of  forty  acres,  marking  the  boun 
daries  by  rows  of  peach-trees.  He  set  out  eleven 
hundred  and  fifty-one  trees  during  his  first  year 
at  home  after  retiring  from  the  Presidency.  The 
seven  fields  indicated  his  system  of  rotation  of 
crops,  which  embraced  seven  years;  first  year, 
wheat;  second,  corn;  third,  peas  or  potatoes; 
fourth,  vetches ;  fifth,  wheat  again ;  sixth  and  sev 
enth,  clover.  Each  of  the  four  farms  under  its 
own  overseer  was  cultivated  by  four  negroes,  four 
negresses,  four  horses,  and  four  oxen,  but  at  har 
vest  and  other  busy  times  the  working  forces  of 
all  were  concentrated. 

He  had  a  threshing-machine  imported  from 
Scotland,  where  it  was  newly  invented, — the  first 
ever  seen  in  Virginia.  It  answered  its  purpose 
so  well  that  all  the  planters  in  the  neighborhood 
sent  for  machines  or  had  them  made  at  home. 

366 


C  *     -* ' 

X^CALIFOK} 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO    SCIENCE 

"This  machine  is  conveyed  from  one  farm  to 
another  in  a  wagon,  and  threshes  from  120  to 
150  bushels  a  day,"  Jefferson  reports,  and  refers 
also  to  "  a  machine  for  sowing  seed  in  rows  in 
vented  in  the  neighborhood,"  with  the  performance 
of  which  the  master  of  Monticello  was  well  pleased. 

In  his  autobiography  Jefferson  says  that  one  of 
his  "  passions"  was  architecture,  and  his  genius,  or 
rather  his  classical  taste,  can  be  seen  in  the  build 
ings  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  which  he  copied 
from  the  finest  models  in  Greece.  In  addition  to 
Monticello  he  designed  the  residences  of  several 
of  his  neighbors,  and  his  skill  is  seen  in  several 
of  the  symmetrical  mansions  built  in  the  colonial 
period  of  Virginia,  particularly  at  Lower  Brandon, 
the  home  of  the  Harrisons  on  the  lower  James. 

He  planned  the  Capitol  of  Virginia  and  also  a 
prison  for  that  State,  the  latter  being  based  upon 
"a  well  contrived  device  on  the  principle  of  soli 
tary  confinement"  which  he  saw  in  Lyons,  France. 
The  Capitol,  he  says,  was  modelled  upon  "  the 
Maison  Quarree  of  Nismes,  one  of  the  most  beau 
tiful,  if  not  the  most  beautiful  and  precious  morsel 
of  architecture  left  us  by  antiquity.  It  was  built 
by  Caius  and  Lucius  Caesar,  and  repaired  by  Louis 
XIV.,  and  has  the  suffrage  of  all  the  judges  of 
architecture  who  have  seen  it,  as  yielding  to  no 
one  of  the  beautiful  monuments  of  Greece,  Rome, 
Palmyra  and  Balbec,  which  late  travellers  have 
communicated  to  us.  It  is  very  simple,  but  it 
is  noble  beyond  expression." 

He  was  deeply  interested  in  the  construction  of 
the  Capitol  at  Washington,  and  was  one  of  the 
judges  who  considered  the  plans  submitted  by 
various  competitors  for  the  honor  of  constructing 
the  building.  Thornton's  plan,  he  said,  "cap 
tivated  the  eyes  and  the  judgment  of  all,"  and 

367 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

he  writes  Latrobe,  the  architect,  who  restored  the 
building  after  it  was  destroyed  by  the  British  army : 
"  I  shall  live  in  the  hope  that  the  day  will  come 
when  an  opportunity  will  be  given  you  of  finishing 
the  middle  building  in  a  style  worthy  of  the  two 
wings,  and  worthy  of  the  first  temple  dedicated  to 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  embellishing  with 
Athenian  taste  the  course  of  a  nation  looking  far 
beyond  the  range  of  Athenian  destinies." 

Jefferson  was  sceptical  as  to  the  science  of  medi 
cine,  and  discussed  the  subject  with  the  same  inter 
est  that  he  did  theology  and  politics.  He  believed 
in  a  vegetable  diet  and  in  permitting  nature  to 
"  reestablish  order"  in  the  human  system  when 
any  of  its  organs  or  functions  were  deranged. 
"  Experience,"  he  says,  "  teaches  that  there  are 
certain  substances  by  which,  applied  to  the  living 
body,  internally  or  externally,  nature  can  be  as 
sisted,  and  thus  accomplish  in  a  short  time  what 
nature  would  do  slowly.  So  far,"  he  continues, 
"  I  bow  to  the  utility  of  medicine,  but  here  the 
judicious,  the  moral,  the  humane  physician  should 
stop.  But  the  adventuresome  physician  goes  on 
and  substitutes  presumption  for  knowledge.  He 
forms  his  table  of  nosology,  arrays  his  diseases 
into  families,  and  extends  his  curative  treatment 
by  analogy  to  all  the  cases  he  has  thus  arbitrarily 
marshalled  together." 

While  he  was  Secretary  of  State  Jefferson  wrote 
his  daughter  concerning  the  treatment  of  her  baby, 
who  was  ill.  "  Let  me  beseech  you,"  he  says, 
"not  to  destroy  the  powers  of  her  stomach  with 
medicine.  Nature  alone  can  reestablish  infant 
organs,  only  taking  care  that  her  efforts  be  not 
thwarted  by  imprudence  of  diet." 

Dr.  Dunglison,  one  of  the  imported  professors 
at  the  University,  who  treated  him  when  he  was 

368 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO    SCIENCE 

ill,  and  was  with  him  when  he  died,  says :  "  He 
often  told  me  that  he  would  rather  trust  to  the 
unaided  or  rather  uninterfered  with  efforts  of  na 
ture,  than  to  physicians  in  general.  '  It  is  not/ 
he  was  wont  to  observe,  'to  physics  I  object  so 
much  as  to  physicians."  In  the  presence  of  Dr. 
Everett,  afterwards  private  secretary  to  President 
Monroe,  he  remarked  that  whenever  he  saw  three 
physicians  together,  he  looked  up  to  discover 
whether  there  was  not  a  turkey  buzzard  in  the 
neighborhood.  But  whatever  may  have  been  Mr. 
Jefferson's  notions  of  physics  and  physicians,  it 
is  but  justice  to  say  that  he  was  one  of  the  most 
attentive  and  respectful  of  patients.  He  bore  suffer 
ing  inflicted  upon  him  for  remedial  purposes  with 
fortitude;  and  in  my  visits  showed  me  by  memo 
randa  the  regularity  with  which  he  had  taken  pre 
scribed  remedies  at  the  appointed  times." 

Notwithstanding  this  scepticism  in  medical  sci 
ence,  Jefferson  was  all  his  life  a  curious  inquirer 
into  such  subjects,  and  could,  upon  an  emergency, 
sew  up  an  ugly  wound  or  set  a  negro's  brokeif 
leg.  Delicacy  of  touch  and  dexterity  of  hand, 
joined  to  his  fearlessness  and  patience  of  investi 
gation,  Dr.  Dunglison  says,  would  have  made  him 
a  master  in  surgery.  Convinced  of  the  utility  of 
inoculation  for  small-pox  then  performed  by  Dr. 
Shippen,  of  Philadelphia,  he  submitted  to  vacci 
nation,  one  of  the  first  prominent  men  in  America 
to  do  so. 

Jefferson  availed  himself  of  every  opportunity 
to  get  information  concerning  the  languages  of 
the  Indians  of  North  America,  and  made  a  collec 
tion  of  their  vocabularies,  intending  at  leisure  to 
analyze  them  and  trace  their  derivation.  When 
he  left  Washington,  after  vacating  the  Presidential 
chair,  these  valuable  papers  were  packed  with  other 
24  369 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

documents  in  a  trunk,  and  with  the  rest  of  his 
baggage  sent  around  by  Richmond,  whence  they 
were  to  be  shipped  by  boat  up  the  James  and 
Rivanna  Rivers  to  Monticello.  Two  negro  boat 
men  took  it  for  granted  that  the  ex-President  was 
returning  from  office  with  untold  wealth,  and  sup 
posing  by  the  weight  of  the  trunk  that  it  contained 
silver  or  gold,  broke  it  open.  The  papers  were 
scattered  to  the  winds,  and  thus  was  lost  Jefferson's 
valuable  collection  of  philology. 

His  interest  in  the  unexplored  West  was  intense. 
He  never  tired  of  listening  to  frontiersmen  who 
had  visited  the  prairies  and  the  mountains,  and 
his  high  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  resources  of 
the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  caused 
him  to  be  ridiculed  for  credulity,  though  it  was 
trifling  compared  with  the  actual  truth.  It  was 
Jefferson  who  encouraged  Astor  to  invade  the 
Northwest  for  trade, — a  scheme  as  feasible  as  it 
was  audacious, — but  the  War  of  1812  interfered. 
It  is  interesting  to  observe,  in  view  of  the  present 
importance  of  the  silver  deposits  in  the  mountains, 
that  in  1808  the  secret  of  their  existence  "seven 
teen  hundred  miles  from  St.  Louis"  was  confided 
to  the  President,  who  writes  to  Gallatin:  "I  en 
close  for  your  information  the  account  of  a  silver 
mine  to  fill  your  treasury." 

As  a  member  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  of  Philadelphia,  Jefferson  took  the  lead 
in  1792  in  raising  a  thousand  guineas  to  send 
Andrew  Michaud  across  the  continent  to  find  out 
something  about  the  great  plains  and  rivers,  the 
Indians  and  the  animals,  the  bones  of  the  mam 
moth,  and  whatever  else  a  Philosophical  Society 
and  an  American  people  might  care  to  know.  Mi 
chaud  did  not  find  the  Pacific  Ocean.  That  honor 
was  left  for  Jefferson's  future  private  secretary. 

37o 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO    SCIENCE 

It  was  Jefferson,  too,  who  encouraged  the  two 
expeditions  of  Lieutenant  Zebulon  Montgomery 
Pike,  who  named  the  peak  he  discovered.  Pike 
was  the  first  American  to  explore  the  Upper  Mis 
sissippi  beyond  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  shaking 
hands  on  the  way  with  "  Monsieur  Dubuque,"  the 
lead-miner,  who  exercised  despotic  authority  over 
a  wide  dominion.  Pike  was  the  first  American 
to  explore  the  Valley  of  the  Arkansas  and  enter 
New  Mexico,  where  the  Spanish  governor  threw 
him  into  jail  as  a  filibuster  and  revolutionist.  It 
was  Jefferson  who  sent  Meriwether  Lewis  and 
William  Clarke  to  the  sources  of  the  Missouri, 
across  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Columbia 
River,  and  down  the  Columbia  until  they  reached 
the  Pacific.  Counting  from  the  time  when  Captain 
John  Smith  sailed  up  the  Chickahominy  in  search 
of  the  South  Sea,  the  world  had  waited  two  hun 
dred  years  for  the  knowledge  they  brought  back. 
Never  was  a  piece  of  work  of  that  kind  better  done 
or  better  chronicled.  Jefferson  selected  the  two 
heroes  who  conducted  it.  Captain  Lewis  was  his 
own  private  secretary,  the  son  of  one  of  his  most 
esteemed  Albemarle  neighbors.  Lieutenant  Clarke 
was  a  brother  of  General  George  Rogers  Clarke, 
who  kept  the  Indians  from  aiding  the  British  in  the 
War  of  the  Revolution.  Both  were  masters  of  the 
frontier  arts,  so  that  the  perilous  expedition  of  two 
years  and  a  half  was  to  them  a  holiday  excursion. 
Returning  to  St.  Louis  laden  with  spoils  and  tro 
phies,  Captain  Lewis,  besides  his  journals  and  other 
official  results,  sent  the  President  "  sixty-seven 
specimens  of  earth,  salt  and  mineral,  and  sixty 
specimens  of  plants." 

Jefferson  was  the  author  of  the  coinage  system 
of  the  United  States.  As  chairman  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Currency  of  the  First  Congress  he  recom- 

371 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

mended  the  use  of  decimals  in  the  notation  of 
money  in  preference  to  the  awkward  pound-shill- 
ing-and-pence  of  the  mother  country.  Gouverneur 
Morris,  afterwards  minister  to  France,  then  in  the 
banking-house  of  Robert  Morris,  chairman  of  the 
Finance  Committee,  originally  conceived  the  idea, 
which  Jefferson  readily  accepted,  and  proposed  the 
dollar  as  the  unit  and  the  largest  silver  coin;  a 
gold  coin  of  ten-dollars'  value,  a  silver  coin  of 
the  value  of  one-tenth  of  a  dollar,  and  a  copper 
coin  of  the  value  of  one  hundredth  of  a  dollar.  He 
suggested  three  other  coins  for  the  convenience  of 
making  change, — a  silver  half  dollar,  a  silver  dou 
ble  tenth,  and  a  copper  twentieth.  It  remained 
only  to  invent  easy  names  for  these  coins,  which 
was  done  in  due  time.  This  currency  was  not 
adopted  without  vigorous  persistence  on  the  part 
of  Jefferson,  both  in  and  out  of  Congress.  Robert 
Morris,  the  first  man  of  America  at  that  time  in 
matters  of  finance,  opposed  the  suggestion  because 
people  were  familiar  with  the  English  money  and 
did  not  want  a  change.  Jefferson  desired  to  apply 
the  decimal  system  to  all  measures.  "  When  I 
travel,"  he  says,  "  I  use  an  odometer,  which  di 
vides  the  miles  into  cents,  and  I  find  everyone 
comprehends  a  distance  readily  when  stated  to 
him  in  miles  and  cents;  so  he  would  in  feet  and 
cents,  pounds  and  cents." 

On  the  2d  of  September,  1790,  we  find  this  entry 
in  his  account-book : 

"pd  Leslie  for  an  odometer  ioD. 
Diary  of  journey  to  Monticello 
Set  out  from  Philadelphia." 

Then  follows  a  table  setting  forth  the  name  of 
each  village  through  which  he  passed,  its  distance 
from  the  last  stopping-place,  the  number  of  revo- 

372 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO    SCIENCE 

lutions  of  the  wheels  of  his  phaeton,  which  were 
registered  by  the  odometer,  and,  for  a  part  of  the 
distance,  the  time  consumed  in  running  from  sta 
tion  to  station,  the  character  of  the  country,  whether 
level  or  hilly,  and  of  the  soil,  whether  loam,  clay, 
gravel,  sand,  stumpy,  stony,  and  the  places  where 
he  breakfasted,  dined,  and  lodged,  are  all  noted  in 
the  margin. 

Had  Jefferson's  advice  been  followed  our  tables 
of  measures  to-day  would  be :  "  Ten  points  one  line ; 
ten  lines  one  inch ;  ten  inches  one  foot ;  ten  feet  one 
decad ;  ten  decads  one  rood ;  ten  roods  one  fur 
long;  ten  furlongs  one  mile."  But  this  was  too 
novel  and  audacious  for  Congress  to  accept. 

The  mint  at  Philadelphia  was  established  on 
Jefferson's  recommendation  when  he  was  Secretary 
of  State.  Until  then  our  coins  were  struck  in 
Europe.  "  Coinage  is  peculiarly  an  attribute  of 
sovereignty,"  he  said.  "  To  transfer  its  exercise 
to  another  country  is  to  submit  it  to  another  sover 
eign."  So  a  mint  was  opened  at  Philadelphia, 
workmen  were  invited  from  abroad,  and  a  quantity 
of  copper  ordered  from  Europe  to  be  made  into 
American  cents. 

Among  the  many  curious  relics  of  his  tireless, 
minute  industry  which  have  been  preserved  to  this 
day  is  a  small,  well-worn  leather-bound  manuscript 
volume  of  one  hundred  and  five  pages,  entitled 
"  Parliamentary  Pocket  Book,"  begun  by  him  when 
he  was  a  young  lawyer,  expecting  soon  to  be  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  Virginia. 
Upon  this  work,  which  contained  the  substance 
of  ancient  parliamentary  law  and  usage,  while  he 
was  Vice-President  he  gradually  constructed  his 
"  Manual  of  Parliamentary  Practice"  which  still 
governs  deliberative  bodies.  After  amending  and 
adding  to  it  for  four  years,  aided  by  the  learning 

373 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

and  experience  of  his  ancient  master  in  the  law, 
George  Wythe,  he  left  it  in  manuscript  to  the 
United  States  Senate,  "  as  the  standard  by  which 
he  had  judged,  and  was  willing  to  be  judged." 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  government, 
Congress  authorized  the  Secretary  of  State  to 
issue  patents  for  inventions,  hence  Thomas  Jeffer 
son  is  often  referred  to  as  the  Father  of  the 
Patent  Office.  He  took  great  pride  in  this  duty 
but  felt  the  full  responsibility,  because  he  had 
doubts  concerning  the  constitutionality  of  the  prac 
tice,  and,  particularly,  because  the  new  law  was 
founded  upon  the  patent  system  of  the  British, 
whom  he  despised.  He  gave  personal  considera 
tion  to  every  application  for  a  patent  that  was 
filed  between  1790  and  1793.  In  those  days  the 
granting  of  a  patent  was  an  event  that  resembled 
in  importance  and  public  apprehension  the  organi 
zation  of  a  trust  a  century  later,  and  was  the  sub 
ject  of  similar  comment  and  criticism.  Able  law 
yers  questioned  the  authority  of  the  government 
to  grant  monopolies  or  protect  a  citizen  in  the 
manufacture  of  an  article  of  his  own  invention, 
and  it  became  a  political  issue.  Jefferson  took 
the  ground  that  "  if  nature  has  made  any  one 
thing  less  susceptible  than  all  others  of  exclusive 
property,  it  is  the  action  of  the  thinking  power 
called  an  idea,  which  an  individual  may  exclusively 
possess  as  long  as  he  keeps  it  to  himself.  But  the 
moment  it  is  divulged,  it  forces  itself  into  the 
possession  of  every  one  and  the  receiver  can  not 
dispossess  himself  of  it.  Inventions  can  not  in 
nature  be  a  subject  of  property.  Society  may  give 
an  exclusive  right  to  the  profits  arising  from  them, 
as  an  encouragement  to  men  to  pursue  ideas  which 
may  produce  utility,  but  this  may  or  may  not  be 
according  to  the  will  and  convenience  of  society 

374 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO   SCIENCE 

without  claim  or  complaint  from  anybody."  Act 
ing  in  behalf  of  "  society,"  Congress,  assumed  the 
authority,  and  Jefferson  exercised  it  with  great 
caution. 

It  is  a  matter  of  tradition,  handed  down  to  us 
from  generation  to  generation  by  those  who  loved 
to  speak  of  Jefferson  and  his  virtues  and  eccen 
tricities,  that  when  an  application  was  made  he 
would  summon  General  Knox,  of  Massachusetts, 
who  was  Secretary  of  War,  and  Edmund  Ran 
dolph,  of  Virginia,  who  was  Attorney-General, 
those  officials  having  been  designated  by  the  act 
with  the  Secretary  of  State  as  a  tribunal  to  grant 
patents;  that  these  three  distinguished  gentlemen 
would  examine  the  application  critically,  carefully 
scrutinizing  each  point  of  the  specifications  and 
claim.  The  result  was  that  during  the  first  year 
a  majority  of  the  applications  were  rejected.  Only 
three  patents  were  granted,  Jefferson  seeking 
always  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  the  officials 
and  the  public  that  the  act  was  of  no  ordinary 
importance.  During  the  year  1791  thirty-three 
patents  were  granted,  in  1792  eleven,  and  in  1793 
twenty,  making  only  sixty-seven  in  all  under  Jef 
ferson's  interpretation  of  the  original  law.  The 
first  patent  issued  was  to  Samuel  Hopkins,  July 
31,  1790,  for  "Making  Pot  and  Pearl  Ashes." 
It  was  signed  by  George  Washington,  President, 
Thomas  Jefferson,  Secretary  of  State,  and  Ed 
mund  Randolph,  Attorney-General. 

The  narrow  construction  placed  upon  the  law 
by  Secretary  Jefferson  caused  a  revision  in  1793 
notwithstanding  his  endeavors  to  prevent  it.  He 
held  in  numerous  arguments  made  before  Congress 
that  the  promiscuous  granting  of  patents  or  mo 
nopolies  in  any  art  or  industry  was  not  only  against 
the  theory  of  popular  government,  but  would  be 

375 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

pernicious  in  its  consequences.  Furthermore,  it 
was  in  the  interest  of  New  England.  It  was  advo 
cated  by  the  Federalists,  and  that  was  enough  to 
excite  his  suspicions  and  opposition.  General 
Washington  was  in  favor  of  a  broad  patent  law. 
"  I  can  not  forbear,"  he  says,  in  a  message  to 
Congress,  "  intimating  to  you  the  expediency  of 
giving  effectual  encouragement  as  well  to  the  in 
troduction  of  new  and  useful  inventions  from 
abroad,  as  to  the  execution  of  skill  and  genius  in 
producing  them  at  home.'7  With  the  influence  of 
Washington  and  the  growing  interest  in  manu 
facturing  industries  the  original  act  was  enlarged 
and  made  more  liberal  in  spite  of  Jefferson's  ob 
jections,  who,  under  the  new  law  of  1793,  con 
strued  the  issue  of  a  patent  as  a  mere  ministerial 
act,  and  said :  "  Instead  of  revising  a  patent  in  the 
.first  instance,  as  the  board  was  formerly  authorized 
to  do,  the  patent  is  now  issued  of  course,  subject 
to  be  declared  void  on  such  principles  as  may  be 
established  by  the  courts  of  law.  The  previous 
refusal  of  a  patent  would  better  guard  our  citizens 
against  harassments  by  law  suits,  but  England 
had  given  it  to  her  judges,  and  the  usual  pre 
dominancy  of  her  example  carried  it  to  ours." 

From  1790  to  1812  inventive  genius  in  the 
United  States  was  directed  almost  wholly  to  agri 
cultural  and  commercial  objects,  but  the  embargo 
that  preceded  the  war  in  England  forced  the  peo 
ple  into  branches  of  manufacture  hitherto  almost 
entirely  neglected,  and  the  result  of  this  was  the 
most  rapid  and  radical  and  remarkable  develop 
ment  of  human  ingenuity  ever  known  to  any  age 
or  nation. 

One  of  the  first  applications  rejected  by  Secre 
tary  Jefferson  was  filed  by  one  Isaacs  for  a  patent 
for  an  alleged  discovery  of  a  method  of  converting 

376 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO    SCIENCE 

sea  water  into  fresh  water.  Not  satisfied  with  his 
own  examination  of  the  process,  he  invited  the 
enterprising  Isaacs  to  try  his  hand  upon  a  bucket 
of  salt  water  in  the  presence  of  the  members  of 
the  Philadelphia  Philosophical  Society.  The  proc 
ess  proved  to  be  mere  distillation  (known  and 
practised  for  many  years)  veiled  by  a  little  hocus- 
pocus  of  Isaacs's  own  contriving.  Jefferson  re 
ported  against  the  claim,  and  advised  that  a  short 
account  of  the  best  way  of  extemporizing  a  still 
on  board  ship  be  printed  on  the  back  of  all  ships' 
clearances  with  an  invitation  to  send  the  results  of 
such  experiments  to  the  Secretary  of  State. 

One  of  Jefferson's  last  acts  before  leaving  the 
Department  of  State  was  to  issue  a  patent  to  Eli 
Whitney  for  the  cotton-gin.  He  was  very  quick 
to  perceive  the  value  of  this  the  first  of  the  great 
inventions  in  America,  and  which  is  universally 
considered  one  of  the  most  important  in  the  early 
history  of  human  ingenuity.  In  acknowledging 
the  receipt  of  the  application  Jefferson  took  Whit 
ney  into  his  confidence  and  made  several  personal 
and  pertinent  inquiries  in  his  official  communica 
tion.  He  wrote :  "  As  the  state  of  Virginia,  of 
which  I  am,  carries  on  manufactures  of  cotton 
to  a  great  extent,  as  I  also  do  myself  and  as  one 
of  our  greatest  embarrassments  is  the  cleaning 
of  the  cotton  of  the  seed,  I  feel  a  considerable 
interest  in  the  success  of  your  invention,  for  fam 
ily  use.  Permit  me  therefore  to  ask  information 
from  you  on  these  points.  Has  the  machine  been 
thoroughly  tried  in  the  ginning  of  cotton,  or  is 
it  yet  but  a  machine  of  theory?  What  quantity 
has  it  cleaned  on  an  average  of  several  days,  and 
worked  by  hand,  and  by  how  many  hands  ?  What 
will  be  the  cost  of  one  of  them  made  to  be  worked 
by  hand?  Favorable  answers  to  these  questions 

377 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

would  induce  me  to  engage  one  of  them  to  be 
forwarded  to  Richmond  for  me." 

In  reply  Whitney  gives  an  interesting  account 
of  the  history  of  his  cotton-gin,  and  says  that 
at  the  time  it  was  invented  he  had  never  seen  a 
machine  of  any  kind  for  ginning  cotton,  but,  in 
the  following  spring,  he  learned  from  a  Savannah 
newspaper  that  a  man  named  Pearce,  of  New 
Jersey,  had  invented  one,  and  "has  since  under 
stood  that  his  improvement  was  only  a  multipli 
cation  of  the  small  rollers  used  in  the  common 
gin."  Whitney  speaks  modestly  of  the  device 
which  was  to  revolutionize  the  cotton  trade,  assures 
Jefferson  that  it  is  "well  calculated  for  family 
use,"  and  "  will  cleanse  all  the  cotton  which  any 
one  family  manufactures  for  its  own  use." 

Although  he  was  doubtful  as  to  the  constitution 
ality  of  the  patent  law  and  was  always  suspicious 
of  being  imposed  upon,  Jefferson  conscientiously 
paid  royalty  to  a  man  named  Evans  for  the  use 
of  "  elevators,  conveyors  and  hopper  boys"  that 
were  used  in  his  mill  at  Monticello.  At  the  same 
time  he  wrote  a  lengthy  letter  to  a  correspondent 
whom  he  "  had  not  the  pleasure  of  knowing  per 
sonally"  to  prove  that  Evans  was  not  entitled  to 
his  patent  because  the  same  system  was  in  use  in 
Egypt  from  the  beginning  of  time,  and  had  been 
found  by  a  Dr.  Shaw  "  at  Cairo  in  a  well  264  feet 
deep,  which  the  inhabitants  believed  to  have  been 
a  work  of  the  patriarch  Joseph."  In  this  letter 
Jefferson  shows  great  erudition  by  tracing  the 
development  of  the  elevator  as  used  for  water 
or  grain,  and  gives  numerous  instances  where  the 
process  was  known  in  Persia  and  "  in  other  coun 
tries  inhabited  by  the  ancients."  He  also  gives 
his  ideas  on  the  subject  of  patent  rights  with  great 
clearness. 

378 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO    SCIENCE 

"  I  assume  it  is  a  lemma,"  he  says,  "  that  it  is 
the  invention  of  the  machine  itself  which  is  to  give 
a  patent  right  and  not  the  application  of  it  to  any 
particular  purpose  of  which  it  is  susceptible.  If 
one  person  invents  a  knife  convenient  for  pointing 
our  pens,  another  can  not  have  a  patent  right  for 
the  same  knife  to  point  our  pencils.  A  compass 
was  invented  for  navigation  at  Sea;  another  can 
not  have  a  patent  right  for  using  it  to  serve  on 
land.  A  machine  for  threshing  wheat  has  been 
invented  in  Scotland ;  a  second  person  can  not  get 
a  patent  right  for  the  same  machine  to  thresh  oats, 
a  third  rye,  a  fourth  peas  and  a  fifth  clover." 

"  As  a  member  of  the  patent  board  for  several 
years,  while  the  law  authorized  the  board  to  grant 
or  refuse  patents,  I  saw  with  what  slow  progress 
a  system  of  general  rules  could  be  matured.  Some, 
however,  were  established  by  that  board.  One  of 
these  was  that  a  machine  of  which  we  were  pos 
sessed  might  be  applied  by  every  man  to  any  use 
of  which  it  is  susceptible,  and  that  this  right  ought 
not  to  be  taken  from  him  and  given  to  a  monopoly 
because  he  first,  perhaps  had  occasion  to  apply  it 
Thus  a  screw  for  crushing  plaster  might  be  em 
ployed  for  crushing  grain,  and  a  chain  pump  for 
raising  water  might  be  used  for  raising  wheat, 
this  being  merely  a  change  of  application.  Another 
rule  was  that  the  change  of  material  should  not 
give  title  to  a  patent:  as  the  making  the  plough 
share  of  cast  rather  than  wrought  iron;  a  comb 
of  iron  instead  of  horn  or  ivory ;  or  the  connecting 
of  buckets  by  a  band  of  leather  rather  than  of 
hemp  or  iron.  A  third  was  that  the  mere  change 
of  form  should  give  no  right  to  a  patent;  as  a 
high  quarter  shoe  instead  of  a  low  one,  a  round 
hat  instead  of  a  three  square  or  a  square  bucket 
instead  of  a  round  one;  but  for  this  rule  all  the 

379 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

changes  of  fashion  in  dress  would  have  been  under 
the  tax  of  patentees." 

Jefferson  was  himself  an  inventor,  although,  con 
sistent  to  his  belief  in  the  natural  right  of  all 
mankind  to  share  useful  improvements  without 
restraint,  he  never  applied  for  a  patent.  His  first 
original  device  was  a  folding-chair,  which  he  used 
to  carry  to  church  in  early  days  when  services  were 
held  in  the  court-house  at  Charlottesville  and  the 
seating  conveniences  were  insufficient.  His  grand 
son  tells  us  how  he  would  "  mount  his  horse  early 
in  the  morning,  during  the  latter  years  of  his 
life,  canter  down  the  mountain  and  across  the 
country  to  the  site  of  the  University,  and  spend 
a  long  day  there,  directing  the  work;  carrying 
with  him  a  walking  stick  of  his  own  invention, 
now  familiar  to  all,  composed  of  three  sticks, 
which  being  spread  out  and  covered  with  a  piece 
of  cloth  made  a  tolerable  seat."  Bacon,  his  over 
seer,  in  his  reminiscences  says :  "  His  servant  came 
with  him  and  brought  a  seat,  a  kind  of  camp  stool 
of  his  own  invention.  After  Jefferson  got  old  and 
feeble  a  servant  used  to  go  with  him  and  carry 
that  stool  so  that  he  could  sit  down  while  he  was 
waiting  for  anybody,  or  attending  to  any  work 
that  was  going  on." 

It  is  also  claimed  that  he  invented  the  revolving 
chair,  now  a  familiar  and  necessary  article  of  fur 
niture  in  all  offices  and  counting-rooms.  The 
Federalist  newspapers  used  to  call  it  "  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  whirl-i-gig,"  and  declared  that  he  had  in 
vented  it  "  so  as  to  look  all  ways  at  once." 

He  also  designed  a  light  wagon  or  sulky  with 
a  comfortable  seat  and  two  wheels,  with  which 
he  frequently  drove  around  the  country  when  he 
was  too  feeble  to  ride  horseback. 

One  of  his  inventions  was  a  hemp-break,  which, 
380 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO   SCIENCE 

he  says,  "  has  long  been  wanted  by  the  cultivators 
of  hemp,  and  as  soon  as  I  can  speak  of  its  effect 
with  certainty  I  shall  describe  it  anonymously  in 
the  public  papers,  in  order  to  forestall  the  preven 
tion  of  its  use  by  some  interloping  patentee." 

He  invented  a  pedometer  to  measure  the  dis 
tances  he  walked.  He  sent  one  to  James  Madison 
with  the  following  explanatory  letter :  "  To  the 
loop  at  the  bottom  of  it,  you  must  sew  a  tape, 
and  at  the  other  end  of  the  tape,  a  small  hook. 
Cut  a  little  hole  in  the  bottom  of  your  left  watch 
pocket,  pass  the  hook  and  tape  through  it,  and 
down  between  the  breeches  and  drawers,  and  fix 
the  hook  on  the  edge  of  your  knee  band,  an  inch 
from  the  knee  buckle;  then  hook  the  instrument 
itself  by  its  swivel  hook,  on  the  upper  edge  of 
your  watch  pocket.  Your  tape  being  well  adjusted 
in  length,  your  steps  will  be  exactly  measured  by 
the  instrument." 

His  most  important  invention  was  a  plough. 
Edward  Bacon,  his  overseer,  says :  "  He  was  very 
ingenious.  He  invented  a  plough  that  was  con 
sidered  a  great  improvement  on  any  that  had  ever 
been  used.  He  got  a  great  many  premiums  and 
medals  for  it.  He  planned  his  own  carriage,  build 
ings,  garden  and  fences  and  a  good  many  other 
things.  He  was  nearly  always  busy  upon  some 
plan  or  model." 

Jefferson's  plough  received  a  gold  medal  in 
France  in  1790.  During  his  European  tours  he 
had  been  struck  with  the  waste  of  power  caused 
by  the  bad  construction  of  the  ploughs  in  common 
use.  The  part  of  the  plough  called  the  "mould- 
board,"  which  is  above  the  share  and  turns  over 
the  earth,  seemed  to  him  the  chief  seat  of  error, 
and  he  spent  many  of  the  leisure  hours  of  his  last 
two  years  in  France  in  evolving  a  mould-board 

381 


THE  TRUE  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

which  should  offer  the  minimum  of  resistance. 
He  sent  the  original  design  to  the  Royal  Agri 
cultural  Society  of  the  Seine.  The  medal  which 
they  awarded  for  it  followed  the  inventor  to  New 
York,  and  eighteen  years  afterwards  the  Society 
sent  him  a  superb  plough  containing  his  improve 
ment. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  judgment  concerning  agricul 
tural  machinery  was  so  highly  esteemed  that  he 
was  frequently  consulted  by  inventors,  and  Robert 
Mills,  who  filed  the  first  application  for  a  patent 
for  a  reaping-machine,  submitted  to  him  the  model 
and  the  drawings  before  he  sent  them  to  the  Patent 
Office.  The  following  is  an  extract  from  Mr. 
Jefferson's  letter  to  the  inventor: 

"  I  have  considered  your  plan  of  a  reaping  machine,  which 
I  consider  as  simple  and  promising,  but  experience  has 
taught  me  never  form  an  ultimate  decision  on  a  plan  or 
model,  or  anything  short  of  the  actual  experiment.  1  would 
make  one  observation  on  what  will  be  easily  corrected.  The 
wheel  E  moves  with  exactly  the  velocity  of  the  horse,  i.  e. 
about  four  f.  in  a  second.  The  peripheries  of  D.  &  B  with 
about  y$  that  velocity.  The  medium  point  of  the  scythe  M 
with  about  double  the  last  of  5^/3  ft  in  a  second,  which  would 
not  I  think  be  sufficient  to  cut.  I  presume  a  scythe  slung 
with  a  man's  arm  has  nearly  the  double  of  that  velocity.  I 
salute  you  with  esteem  and  attachment. 

"Tn.  JEFFERSON." 

During  his  five  years  in  Europe  Jefferson  kept 
four  colleges,  Harvard,  Yale,  William  and  Mary, 
and  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  advised  of  all 
new  inventions,  discoveries,  and  publications  that 
seemed  to  him  important.  It  was  he  who  sent 
to  the  United  States  the  first  announcement  of 
the  success  of  Watt's  steam  engine,  by  means] 
of  which,  he  says,  "a  peck  and  a  half  of  coal 
performs  as  much  work  as  a  horse  in  a  day." 
He  learned  of  this  wonderful  mechanism  from 
Mr.  Boulton,  a  partner  of  Watt,  and  as  soon  as 

382 


JEFFERSON'S   SERVICES   TO   SCIENCE 

he  could  be  spared  from  Paris  he  crossed  the 
Channel  to  London  to  see  it  in  operation;  but, 
much  to  his  disappointment,  he  was  not  allowed 
to  make  a  minute  examination.  He  was  permitted 
"  to  view  the  outward  parts  of  the  machinery,  and 
can  not  tell  whether  the  mill  is  turned  by  the 
steam  immediately,  or  by  a  stream  of  water  which 
the  steam  pumped  up."  He  does  not  appear  to 
have  perceived  the  possibilities  of  this  invention 
for  motive  power  in  manufacturing  and  large 
industries,  but  associated  it  in  his  mind  with  do 
mestic  conveniences.  He  expresses  a  timid  hope 
"that  they  may  make  it  available  for  pumping 
water  to  the  tops  of  houses  for  family  use.  Every 
family,"  he  continues,  "  has  a  kitchen  fire,  small 
indeed,  but  sufficient  for  the  purpose." 

He  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  in  Europe  collect 
ing  information  about  internal  navigation,  which 
was  particularly  welcome  to  the  companies  formed 
to  utilize  the  Potomac  and  the  James. 

He  notified  Congress  of  the  invention  by  a 
French  mechanic  of  a  machine,  now  familiar  to 
every  workshop,  "  by  which  wheels  and  other  parts 
of  a  watch  or  clock  can  be  multiplied  in  dupli 
cate,  as  many  as  are  desired,  so  exactly  alike 
that  one  can  be  used  in  place  of  another  without 
altering  or  fitting."  "  A  similar  machine,"  he  said, 
had  been  made  for  the  purpose  of  reproducing 
"  the  parts  of  a  musket  lock  by  hundreds  or  thou 
sands,  or  any  number  desired,  so  exact  that  they 
can  be  put  together  as  neatly  and  exactly  as  if 
each  had  been  made  by  hand  of  the  same  size 
and  pattern,  so  that  one  part  can  be  replaced  by 
a  duplicate  at  will."  He  wisely  predicted  the  great 
utility  of  this  invention  in  lessening  the  cost  of 
articles  of  common  use,  and  suggested  that  the 
principles  should  be  applied  to  all  manufactures. 

383 


IN   CONCLUSION 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON  is  perhaps  the  most  pictur 
esque  character  in  American  history.  He  was 
longer  in  public  life;  he  exercised  a  more  potent 
and  permanent  influence  upon  his  own  and  suc 
ceeding  generations  than  any  other  man,  not  . 
excepting  Washington;  but  his  character  and 
motives  have  been  and  always  will  be  ^subjects 
of  controversy.  There  is  no  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  the  honesty  and  patriotism  of  Washington, 
Franklin,  Jackson,  Lincoln,  or  Grant ;  while  Jeffer 
son  is  still  extolled  by  some  writers  as  the  greatest 
and  purest  of  statesmen  and  patriots,  and  by  others 
denounced  as  a  dangerous  demagogue,  unsound 
in  his  principles,  insincere  in  his  utterances,  and  dis 
honest  in  his  acts.  At  the  same  time  no  public 
man  ever  left  so  much  direct  testimony  in  his 
own  behalf.  He  was  the  most  prolific  of  writers. 
There  is  scarcely  a  question  in  the  entire  range 
of  human  inquiry  which  he  did  not  discuss;  and 
his  manuscripts  were  intentionally  preserved  and 
carefully  arranged  for  the  instruction  of  posterity.  > 
He  frequently  changed  his  policy  and  programme, 
and  took  different  views  of  the  same  subjects  on 
different  occasions,  perhaps  on  the  ancient  theory 
that  "  a  wise  man  often  changes  his  mind, — a  fool 
never."  ,  A  distinguished  member  of  the  United 
States  Senate  of  the  Populist  party,  in  a  valedic 
tory  address,  declared  that  he  had  heard  Thomas 
Jefferson  quoted  to  sustain  every  side  of  every 
question  that  had  been  discussed  in  that  body. 
This  is  not  so  much  of  an  exaggeration  as  one 
unfamiliar  with  Jefferson's  writings  would  sup- 

384 


IN  CONCLUSION 

pose,  but  has  not  the  Devil  been  known  to  quote 
Holy  Scripture? 

Some  of  his  political  methods  would  not  be  tol 
erated  at  the  present  day,  but  the  most  searching 
investigations  have  never  been  able  to  convict 
Jefferson  of  using  money  to  influence  votes.  His 
official  diary,  called  "  Anas,"  is  a  monument  of 
human  malice.  Its  pages,  written  in  his  own  hand, 
have  injured  him  more  than  the  assaults  of  all  his 
enemies.  Yet  no  other  public  man  ever  endured 
such  violent  and  prolonged  attacks  upon  his  pri 
vate  and  public  character.  Upon  one  occasion  only 
did  he  stoop  to  defend  himself,  or  even  notice 
such  charges.  When  a  New  England  clergyman 
accused  him  of  misusing  the  funds  of  widows  and 
orphans,  he  simply  explained  that  he  could  not 
possibly  be  guilty,  because  such  funds  had  never 
been  entrusted  to  his  care. 

It  was  instinct  that  led  Jefferson  to  grasp  at 
power  and  to  attempt  to  exert  his  influence  in 
every  direction.  When  he  was  unhampered,  as 
in  the  Presidency,  he  became  a  mild  dictator,  a 
moderate  autocrat.  His  strong  individuality  al 
ways  asserted  itself,  and  a  consciousness  of  superi 
ority  made  it  natural  and  necessary  for  him  to 
rule.  When  he  met  resistance  he  was  irritated, 
and  retired  with  a  sense  of  injury  and  feelings 
of  resentment,  as  from  the  Cabinet  of  Washing 
ton. 

Unhappily,  Jefferson  was  called  to  the  head 
of  the  Cabinet  while  his  theories  of  government 
were  still  glowing  with  the  heat  of  the  French 
Revolution,  and  retained  the  odor  of  the  guillo 
tine.  He  would  have  had  an  instant  quarrel  with 
any  other  President  than  Washington,  whose  se 
date  and  charitable  disposition  made  him  patient 
and  conservative.  Jefferson  tried  him  severely, 
»s  385 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

chiefly  by  his  intemperate  utterances,  and  his  bitter 
attacks  upon  Hamilton  and  the  New  England  sup 
porters  of  the  administration.  Gradually  the  Cabi 
net,  the  Congress,  and  finally  the  country,  which 
up  to  that  time  had  been  a  unit  in  the  support 
of  Washington,  divided  into  two  political  factions, 
the  Republicans  under  the  leadership  of  Jefferson, 
then  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  Federalists  under 
the  leadership  of  Hamilton,  then  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  That  was  the  beginning  of  American 
politics  and  the  origin  of  American  political  par 
ties. 

Jefferson's  abhorrence  of  war  and  debt  made 
his  second  term  as  President  a  failure  compared 
with  the  brilliant  triumphs  of  the  first.  He  re 
linquished  power  with  gratitude  and  without  re 
gret. 

What  is  commonly  referred  to  as  "  Jeffersonian 
simplicity"  will  always  be  a  subject  of  contro 
versy.  Jefferson  was  never  ostentatious,  but  with 
the  exception  of  two  years  of  his  first  term  as  Presi 
dent  he  carefully  observed  the  conventional  rules 
that  governed  people  of  refinement  and  social 
position.  He  was  recognized  as  a  gentleman  of 
simple  but  elegant  manners.^  Suddenly,  and  for  a 
short  time,  he  abandoned  those  habits,  and  per 
mitted  himself  to  become  not  only  an  object  of 
severe  criticism,  but  a  cause  of  offence  to  the 
diplomatic  representatives  of  friendly  nations,  who 
were  compelled  to  protest  to  their  governments 
against  his  violation  of  the  proprieties  and  the 
ordinary  laws  of  hospitality  as  observed  by  civil 
ized  communities.  Notwithstanding  the  protests 
of  the  foreigners  and  the  criticisms  of  many  well- 
bred  people  at  home,  the  popular  verdict  in  the 
United  States  approved  Jefferson's  conduct,  but 
it  left  upon  the  world  a  false  impression  of  Ameri- 

386 


IN  CONCLUSION 

can  manners  and  customs  that  was  not  corrected 
for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  is  not  yet  en 
tirely  effaced. 

The  fact  that  his  suspension  of  the  etiquette  of 
polite  society  was  temporary,  that  the  period  of 
"  simplicity"  was  limited,  leads  the  student  of 
Jefferson's  character  to  assume  that  it  was  the 
result  of  a  purpose,  and  the  natural  presumption 
is  that  he  intended  and  expected  thereby  to 
strengthen  his  political  influence  upon  the  class 
commonly  called  "  the  plain  people."  This  is  the 
interpretation  of  those  who  believe  him  to  have 
been  a  demagogue.  Yet  at  no  other  time  in  his 
long  career  did  he  ever  resort  to  such  tactics; 
and  at  no  other  time  were  they  so  absolutely  un 
necessary,  for  he  was  then  at  the  height  of  his 
power,  and  influence,  the  idol  of  two-thirds  of  the 
American  people.  Therefore  we  must  look  farther 
and  higher  for  the  motive  of  Jefferson's  extraor 
dinary  conduct,  and  may  perhaps  suggest  that  it 
was  due  to  a  desire,  by  a  shock  to  check  and 
counteract  the  increasing  tendency  of  the  Federal 
government  to  adopt  the  forms,  ceremonies,  and 
etiquette  of  European  courts.  This  was  done,  and 
done  effectually  and  permanently.  If  Jefferson's 
purpose  has  been  accurately  stated,  it  was  fully 
accomplished.  His  estimate  of  the  honor  and 
power  and  dignity  of  the  Presidential  office  was 
no  less  exalted  than  was  that  of  Washington  and 
Adams,  but  with  his  democratic  ideas  of  govern 
ment  he  recognized,  and  wished  everyone  else  to 
recognize,  that  they  were  derived  only  from  the\ 
people  and  should  be  exercised  for  their  sole  bene 
fit. 

His  faith  in  the  accuracy  and  justice  of  public 
sentiment  was  never  shaken,  and  he  was  never 
unwilling  to  follow  it  as  a  guide.  Even  at  the 

387 


THE   TRUE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

greatest  crisis  of  his  career,  when  he  added  an 
empire  to  the  area  he  had  been  selected  to  govern 
in  violence  to  his  own  construction  of  the  Con 
stitution,  he  defended  the  act  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  for  the  good  of  the  people  and  would  be 
justified  by  them. 

Jefferson  often  made  mistakes,  but,  as  he  said 
of  Washington,  he  "  erred  with  integrity."  If  he 
changed  his  mind,  it  was  because  he  had  new  light 
or  a  clearer  understanding;  if  he  altered  his  course, 
it  was  because  he  believed  he  could  accomplish 
greater  good;  but  he  had  one  purpose  that  never 
wavered.  He  was  often  inconsistent,  but  was  never 
insincere  in  his  anxiety  and  never  faltered  in  his 
determination  to  establish  a  democracy  in  the 
United  States, — a  government,  as  Lincoln  said, 
of  the  people,  for  the  people,  by  the  people, — and 
whatever  he  did  was  done  with  the  intention  and 
the  hope  of  promoting  that  end., 


Ind 


ex 


Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 

354- 
Accomplishments,     Jefferson's, 

129,  191,  352,  380. 
Account-books,  Jefferson's,  in, 

154,  208. 
ADAMS,   John,  51,  81,  130,  132, 

148,  153,  158,  188,  191,  208,  229, 

235,  240,  276,  340,  349,  352. 

,  John  Quincy,  237. 

,  Samuel,  letters  to,  149. 

Administration,  first,  success  of, 

150,  167. 

,  second,  failure  of,  167,  174. 

Agricultural  hobbies,  365. 
Albemarle  Academy,  250. 
Ambassador,  Jeffers^on^fe,  146. 
Ambition,  Jefferson's,  388. 
American  Philosophical  Society, 

138,  346,  362. 
AMES,  Fisher,  286. 
"Anas,"  Jefferson's  diary  called, 

184,  242,  250,  287,  385. 
Ancestry,  Jefferson's,  17, 18. 
ANNE,  Jefferson's  sister,  46. 
Annexation  of  Louisiana,  176. 
Appearance    of  Jefferson,    102, 

189. 

Appointments  to  office,  151. 
Appropriations,  specific,  305. 
Arboriculture,  365. 
Architect,   Jefferson's  work    as 

an,  264,  367. 
Aristocracy,  Jefferson's  ideas  of, 

303- 

,  opposed  to  Jefferson,  77. 

ARNOLD,  Benedict,  197. 
Assumption    proposition,     the, 

Astronomy,  Jefferson's  ideas  of, 

Atheism,  Jefferson  charged  with, 

322. 
Authorship    of    Declaration  of 

Independence,  133. 
Autobiography,  Jefferson's,  140. 


BACON,  Edward,  Jefferson's 
overseer,  41,  87,  107,  115,  214, 
263,  381. 

Bankruptcy,  Jefferson's,  46. 

laws,  296. 

Banks,  opposition  to,  295. 

BARLOW,  Joel,  355. 

BELINDA,  Jefferson's  sweet 
heart,  29. 

BENTON,  Thomas  H.,  on  an 
nexation  of  Louisiana,  182. 

Bible  and  common  law,  326. 

,  Jefferson's,  343. 

Societies,  contributions  to, 

340. 

Bimetallism.  296. 

Birthdays,  opposed  to  celebra 
tion  of,  159. 

Birthplace,  Jefferson's,  93. 

Blackmail,  attempts  at,  311. 

Blue  laws  of  Virginia,  326. 

Boarding-house,  Jefferson's,  157, 
187. 

Botetourt,  Lord,  Governor  of 
Virginia,  125. 

Boyhood  of  Jefferson,  67. 

BRECKENRIDGE,  Senator  from 
Kentucky,  230. 

Bruton  Parish  Church,  61. 

BRYANT,  William  Cullen,  363. 

Burgesses,  House  of,  124,  126. 

BURR,  Aaron,  188,  229,  277,  282. 

BURWELL,  Jefferson's  body-ser 
vant,  88. 

,    Rebecca,  29. 

Butler,  Jefferson's,  190. 

CABELL,  Joseph  C.,  259. 
Cabinet,  Jefferson's,  150,  165. 
CALLENDER,  Editor,  311. 
Calvinism,  opinion  of,  323. 
Campaign,      Jefferson's       first, 

124. 

Campaigning  in  old  days,  123. 
Capers  introduced  by  Jefferson, 

315. 


INDEX 


Capitol  at  Washington,  judges 
designs  for,  367. 

,  National,  location  of,  252. 

of  Virginia,  Jefferson  de 
signs,  367. 

Card-playing,  316. 

CARR,  Dabney,  127,  145,  220. 

Carriages,  Jefferson's,  187. 

Censorship,  Jefferson  favors, 
310. 

Census  of  slaves,  no. 

Central  College,  261. 

Centralization,  305. 

Ceremonials,  opposition  to,  160. 

Chair,  Jefferson  invents  folding, 
380. 

Jefferson  invents  revolving, 

380. 

Charity,  Jefferson's,  211. 

Charlottesville,  schools  of,  260. 

CHASE  impeachment  case,  226. 

Children,  Jefferson's,  34,  36,  43. 

,  letters  to,  28,  36. 

,  love  for,  35. 

Church,  definition  of,  325. 

Churches,  contributions  to,  339. 

CLARKE,  General  George  Ro 
gers,  371. 

CLARKE,  William,  371. 

CLAY,  Henry,  58. 

Clergy,  contempt  for,  309. 

of  Virginia,  326. 

opposed  to  Jefferson,  322. 

CLEVELAND,  Grover,  157,  310. 

Clients,  Jefferson's,  74. 

Coat-of-arms,  Jefferson's,  17. 

Code  of  etiquette,  195. 

Coinage  system,  Jefferson  in 
vents,  371. 

COLES,  Edward,  Governor,  102, 
211,  225. 

College,  Jefferson  enters,  66. 

Commerce,  foreign,  298. 

Commissioner  to  France,  34,  36. 

Committee  of  Correspondence, 
127. 

Congressional  Library,  352. 

Congress  purchases  correspond 
ence,  351. 

Conrad's  boarding-house,  157, 
187.  f 

Conscientiousness,  Jefferson's, 
109,  320. 

Constitution  and  expansion,  178. 

,  opposition  to,  80. 

Consular  service,  293. 

Continental  Congress,  elected 
to,  129. 


Contributions,  charitable,  212, 
339- 

Convention,  First  National,  278. 

,  Virginia  State,  128. 

Convictions,  Jefferson's  politi 
cal,  289. 

Cook,  Jefferson's,  190. 

COOLIDGE,  Mrs.  Ellen  W.,  43, 
9i,  342. 

,  Thomas  Jefferson,  43,  105, 

35i- 

Coolness  of  temper,  Jefferson's, 
280. 

COOPER,  Professor,  332. 

Copying-press,  Jefferson's  in 
vention  of,  350. 

Correspondence,  Jefferson's,  26, 
348. 

published,  352. 

Corsets,  story  of,  27. 

Cotton-gin,  invention  of,  377. 

Court-House,  Williamsburg,  60, 
122. 


j  Courtship  of  Jefferson,  31. 
Courts,  Jefferson's  practice  in, 

74- 

Cuba,  annexation  of,  184. 
Curiosity,  Jefferson's,  317. 
Currency,  296. 
system,   Jefferson   invents, 

372. 

Dancing,  Jefferson  approves  of, 

38,  347- 

Daughters,  advice  to,  37,  45,  315. 
DAYTON,    Senator    from    New 

Jersey,  234. 

Deadlock  over  Presidential  elec 
tion  of  1800,  275. 
Death  of  Jefferson,  51,  335. 

of  Mrs.  Jefferson,  33,  96. 

Debt,  public,  abhorrence  of,  172. 
Debts,  Jefferson's,  52,  216. 
Declaration    of    Independence, 

131- 
Democracy,    Jefferson's    ideas, 

164. 

Democratic  party,  origin  of,  274. 
Democrats,  reputation  in  New 

England,  277. 

Deportment,  Jefferson's,  190. 
DE  STAEL,  Madame,  147. 
Diary,  Jefferson's,  242,  244,  250, 

284,  385- 

Diet,  Jefferson's,  320. 
Dinners,  Jefferson's,  190,  202. 
Diplomatic  corps,  troubles  with, 

2OI. 


390 


INDEX 


Discretion  of  officials,  303. 
Disposition,  Jefferson's,  99. 
Dress,  Jefferson's  habits  in, 

189. 

,  Jefferson's  ideas  of,  192. 

Duelling,  79. 

DUNGLISON,  Jefferson's  doctor, 

368. 
DUNMORE,  Lord,  59. 

Edinburgh  University,  258,  324. 
Education,  Jefferson's  ideas  of, 

256. 

Egotism,  Jefferson's,  270,  289. 
Election,  Presidential,  1796,  275. 

, ,  1800,  278. 

Elevator,  invention  of,  378. 
Embargo,  the,  173. 
Encyclopaedia,  Jeffersonian,  291. 
Enforcement  Act,  173. 
England,  Jefferson's  opinion  of, 

148,  197. 
Entail    abolished  by  Jefferson, 

Epitaph,  Jefferson's,  ij^, 

,  Mrs.  Jefferson's7  35. 

EPPES,  Mrs.,  40. 

Etiquette,   Jefferson's  code  of, 

191,  196. 

at  White  House,  201. 

Europe,  life  in,  146. 

Executive    ability,    Jefferson's, 

162.  ^, 

Exercise,  Jefferson'^'Meas  of, 

38,  347-          a  9 
Expansion,  Jefferson  on,  175. 
Expenses,  family,  no,  208,  211. 
Explorations,  Lewis  and  Clarke, 

37i. 
Extradition,  307. 

Family  history,  Jefferson's,  17- 
19,  no. 

Farewell  Address,  Washing 
ton's,  250. 

Farmer,  Jefferson  as  a,  90-118, 
366. 

Farmers,  Jefferson's  opinion  of, 
90. 

Fast- Day  proclamations,  338. 

FAUQUIER,  Governor,  69. 

Federalists,  mistakes  of,  276. 

Federalist,  The,  245. 

Fees,  Jefferson's  law-,  73. 

Feuds,  Jefferson's,  243. 

Fiction,  Jefferson's  objections 
to,  347- 

Florida,  annexation  of,  184. 


Flowers,  love  of,  91. 
Folding-chair,  Jefferson  invents, 

380. 

FORD,  Paul  Leicester,  352. 
Foreign  missions,  339. 

relations,  296. 

trade,  297. 

Formalities  in  office,  158. 

FOSTER,  John  W.,  165. 

Four    Resolutions  of  Virginia, 

125. 
France,   Jefferson's  opinion  of, 

148. 

,  life  in,  146. 

FRANKLIN,  Benjamin,  132,  222, 

334,  346,  353- 
French,  complications  with  the, 

246. 

Revolution,  288,  291,  385. 

FRENEAU,  the  editor,  242,  249. 
Friends  and  enemies,  219. 
FULTON,  Robert,  364. 
Funeral,  Jefferson's,  53. 
Future  life,  Jefferson's  belief  in, 

340. 

Gag-law  in  Congress,  177. 
GALLATIN,  Albert,  150,  165,  173, 

295. 

Gambling,  316. 
GENET,  Citizen,  246. 
Geneva  Seminary,  257,  324. 
Geology,  359. 
GERRY,  Elbridge,  137. 
Gifts  to  officials,  306. 
God,  Jefferson's  belief  in,  338. 
Gossip,  Jefferson's  love  of,  27. 
Government,  growth  of,  162. 

,  Jefferson's  plans  of,  288. 

of  Louisiana,  181. 

Governor  of  Virginia,  career  as, 

143- 
Grandparents,    Jefferson's,    17, 

20. 

GRANT,  General,  166. 
Grave,  Jefferson's,  53,  221. 
GRIMM,  Baron,  147. 
Growth  of   the  United    States, 

162. 

Habits,  Jefferson's,  194,  386. 
HAMILTON,  Alexander,  221,  230, 

242,  247,  252,  273,  276,  283,  295, 

3",  386. 

HANCOCK,  John,  136. 
HARRISON,  Benjamin,  137. 
HENNINGS,     John,    Jefferson's 

slave,  88. 


391 


INDEX 


HENRY,  Patrick,  57,  121,  127, 
129,  219,  221,  330,  355. 

Hobbies,  Jefferson's,  297,  352, 
358>  365,  377- 

Hogs,  Calcutta,  introduced  by 
Jefferson,  116. 

Home  in  Philadelphia,  Jeffer 
son's,  134. 

,  Jefferson's,  99. 

Honesty,  Jefferson's  financial, 
321. 

Horse-racing,  317. 

Horses,  Jefferson's,  71,  117,  187. 

Hospitality,  Jefferson's,  47,  146. 

Humor,  Jefferson's  lack  of,  27. 

Ideals,  Jefferson's,  287. 
Ignorance  of  people,  305. 
Immigration,   Jefferson's    ideas 

on,  90,  301,  302. 
Immorality,  charged  with,  311, 

385. 

Imprisonment  for  debt,  307. 
Inauguration,  Jefferson's,  187. 
Inconsistencies,    167,    168,    245, 

287,  384. 
Independence,   Declaration   of, 

119. 

Indian  policy,  301. 
Indians,  researches  concerning, 

371. 

Industry,  Jefferson's,  101. 

Influence,  Jefferson's,  270. 

Insults  to  Washington,  243,  245, 
249. 

Intellectual  force,  Jefferson's, 
270. 

Internal  improvements,  297. 

taxes,  300. 

Intrigues  of  Presidential  cam 
paign,  279. 

Inventions,  early  American,  376. 

,  Jefferson's,  350,  380. 

Isthmian  canal,  297. 

JACKSON,  Andrew,    Jefferson's 

opinion  of,  235. 
JEFFERSON,  Jane,  23. 

,  Martha,  31,  40,  105,  348. 

,  Peter,  17. 

Jesus,    Jefferson's    opinion    of, 

3^, 
JONES,   Scervant,   epitaph   by, 

62. 
Judiciary,  short  terms  for,  79, 

305- 
Juries,    Jefferson's   opinion  of, 

79- 


Kentucky  resolutions,  306. 
King  of  England,  Jefferson  re 
ceived  by,  148. 
KNOX,  General,  249,  295,  375. 

LAFAYETTE,  58,  100,  223,  354. 

Lands,  public,  302. 

Laws,    blue,    of    Virginia,    76, 

326. 

of  Virginia,  revision  of,  75. 

Lawyers,  Virginia,  72. 
Leadership,  Jefferson's,  273. 
LEDYARD,  adventurer,  147. 
LEE,  Francis  Lightfoot,  127. 

,  Richard  Henry,  131,  138. 

Legal  practice,  Jefferson's,  74. 
Legislature  of  Virginia,  144. 
Letter-books,  Jefferson's,  351. 
Letters,  Jefferson's,  348. 
Levees  abolished,  160. 
Levy,    Commodore   Uriah    H., 

106. 

,  Jefferson,  105. 

LEWIS,  Meriwether,  101,  371. 
and   Clarke's    expedition, 

181,  371. 

Liberty,  love  of,  287. 
,  religious,  statutes  for,  322, 


326,  330. 
,ibra 


Library,  Jefferson's,  352. 

, ,  sale  of,  48. 

LINCOLN,  Levi,  188,  239. 
Literary   remains,    Jefferson's, 

35i. 

LIVINGSTON,  R.  R.,  132. 
Lotteries,  thoughts  on,  140. 
Lottery,  Jefferson's  scheme  for 

relief,  50. 

Louisiana  Purchase,  175,  176. 
Love-affairs,  Jefferson's,  29. 
Luxuries,  taxation  of,  299. 
Lynching,  304. 

MACLAY,  Senator,  189,  193. 

MADISON,  James,  69,  81,  93,  116, 
124,  150,  173,  200,  204,  211,  219, 
227,  238,  260,  330. 

Mammoth,  bones  of,  362. 

Manners,  Jefferson's,  99. 

Mansions,  Jefferson's  designs 
for,  367. 

Manual,  Jefferson's,  373. 

Manuscript  Declaration  of  In 
dependence,  138. 

Manuscripts,  Jefferson's,  384. 

Map  of  Virginia,  22. 

Market,  Washington,  203. 

Marriage-bond,  Jefferson's,  32. 


392 


INDEX 


Marriage,  Jefferson's,  32. 

,  Jefferson's  daughters',  40, 

41. 

MARSHALL,  John,  30,  58,  79, 188, 
219,  227,  239. 

Massachusetts  Historical  So 
ciety,  351. 

Mathematics,  love  for,  352,  357. 

Maxims,  Jefferson's,  313. 

MAZZKI,    Jefferson's    letter   to, 


[edi" 


Medicine,  Jefferson's  ideas  of, 

368. 
Merino    sheep    introduced    by 

Jefferson,  115. 
MERRY,  minister  from  England, 

200,  204,  234. 

Messages  to  Congress,  160. 
Meteorology,  358. 
"Midnight          appointments," 

Adams's,  151,  154,  239. 
Militia,  opinion  of,  290,  302. 
Minister,  British,  Jefferson's  re 
lations  with,  197. 

to  France,  Jefferson  as,  146. 

Mint,     Jefferson     founds     the 

United  States,  373. 
Missions,  foreign,  339. 
Money  in  elections,  153. 
Monopolies,  301,  3^9. 
MONROE,  James,  152,  197,  205, 

227,  260,  296. 
Monticello,  47,   51,  93,  98,    106, 

145,  356,  366. 

Monument,  Jefferson's,  53. 
MOORE,  Tom,   Irish  poet,  206, 

312. 
Morals,  Jefferson's,  309. 

of  planters,  56. 

MORRIS,  Gouverneur,  372. 

,  Robert,  372. 

Mother,  Jefferson's,  17,  22. 
Motives,  Jefferson's,  387. 
Mourning,  official,  opposed  to, 

159- 

Music,  Jefferson's  fondness  for, 
24. 

Names  for  Territories,  Jeffer 
son's,  184. 

NAPOLEON'S  trade  with  Jeffer 
son,  176. 

Natural  Bridge  of  Virginia,  33, 
90. 

Naturalization,  301. 

laws,  Jefferson's,  77. 

Nature,  Jefferson's  love  of,  QI. 

Navy,  Jefferson's  plan  of,  363. 


Neutrality  proclamation,  248. 
Newspapers,  hatred  of,  310. 

of  1800,  282. 

NICHOLAS,  Robert  Carter,  128. 
NICHOLSON,  Joseph  Cooper,  282. 
Nominations    of    early     Presi 
dents,  279. 

NORTH,  reply  to  Lord,  131. 
"  Notes  on  Virginia,"  146,  348. 
Nullification  policy,  306. 

Odometer,  Jefferson's,  372. 
Offices  held  by  Jefferson,  140. 
Officials,  appointment  of,  151. 
Olives  introduced  by  Jefferson, 

"5- 

Oratory,  failure  in,  130. 
,  Jefferson's  love  for,  123. 

PAGE,  Governor,  342. 

,  John,  boyhood  friend,  29, 

61,  145- 

PAINE,  Thomas,  150,  237. 

Pardoning  power,  293. 

Paris,  life  in,  146. 

Parliamentary  practice,  Jeffer 
son's,  373. 

Parties,  political,  271. 

Partisanship  in  early  days,  273. 

Patent,  first,  375. 

Office,  374,  376. 

Patents,  Jefferson's  ideas  of,  374. 

Patriotism,  Jefferson's,  269,  289, 
384- 

of  Virginians,  126. 

Patronage,  distribution  of,  151, 
158. 

,  use  of,  294. 

"  PATSY,"  37,  39. 

Pedometer,    Jefferson    invents, 

"  Pele-mSle"  rule  at  the  White 
House,  203. 

PENDLETON,  Edmund,  330. 

Penmanship,  Jefferson's,  264, 
349- 

People,  confidence  of  the,  in  Jef 
ferson,  288. 

Perpetual  constitution,  304. 

Phi  Beta  Kappa  organized,  66. 

Philadelphia,  Jefferson's  home 
in,  134- 

Philosophy,  Jefferson's,  315. 

PICKERING,  Timothy,  246. 

PIKE'S  expedition,  371. 

PINCKNKY,  Charles  C.,  279. 

Plantation  life,  early,  55. 

PLOUGH,  Jefferson's,  381. 


393 


INDEX 


PLUMMER,  Senator  from  Massa 
chusetts,  207. 
Poems,  Jefferson's,  348. 
Poetry,  Jefferson's  objections  to, 

347- 
Politeness,  Jefferson's,  191,  193, 

198. 
Political  appointments,  151. 

ideas,  Jefferson's,  269. 

Politician,  Jefferson  as  a,   164, 

287,  385- 

Politics,  bitterness  of,  273. 
"  POLLY,"  37,  39,  40,  45. 
Polygraph,  Jefferson's,  350. 
Popularity,  Jefferson's,  386. 
Portraits,  Jefferson's,  193,  210. 
Postal  service,  Jefferson's,  364. 
Prayer-book,  Peter  Jefferson's, 

19- 
Prayer,    Jefferson's    belief    in. 

338- 

Presbyterianism,  belief  in,  323. 
Presidency,  Jefferson's  election 

to,  168. 
Presidential  election  of  1796,  275. 

of  1800,  279. 

term,  81,  293. 

Press,  freedom  of,  81. 
PRIESTLEY,  Dr.,  150,  332. 
Primogeniture,  attacks  on,  77. 
Principles,  Jefferson's,  166. 

, political,  269,  289. 

Protectionist,    Jefferson    as    a, 

298. 

Proverbs,  Jefferson's,  313. 
Providence,  belief  in,  309,  338. 
Psalms,  Jefferson's  opinion  of, 

342. 
Public  services,  Jefferson's,  141. 

QUESNAY,  Professor,  354. 

RANDOLPH,    Edmund,  58,  247, 

330,375- 

,  Isham,  grandfather,  17,  20. 

,  John,  219,  223,  247. 

,  Thomas  Jefferson,  44,  106, 

35L 

,  Thomas  Mann,  41,  78,  225. 

,  Mrs.   Thomas    Mann,  40, 

105,  348. 

Reaping-machine,  first,  382. 
Rebellion,  first  act  of,  125. 
,  Jeff erson  favors  occasional, 

80. 
Reception  of  English  minister, 

200. 
Reciprocity,  298. 


Reforms,  Jefferson's,  as  Presi 
dent,  151. 

Relations  of  executive  and  judi 
ciary,  294. 

Relatives,  appointment  of,  153. 

Religious  liberty,  statutes  for,  81 , 
119,  322,  326,  330. 

opinions,  Jefferson's,  267, 

308. 

Remonstrance  against  taxation, 
125- 

Removals  from  office,  Jeffer 
son's,  154,  156. 

Reply  to  Lord  North,  131. 

Republican  party,  origin  of, 
274. 

Revolutionary  movements,  126. 

Rice,  Jefferson  introduces,  365. 

Rights  of  society,  303. 

River  improvements,  356. 

Rotation  in  office,  81,  152,  292, 
305- 

Royalty,  opinions  of,  316. 

Rules  of  University  of  Virginia, 
267. 

RUSH,  Dr.  Benjamin,  240. 

Russia,  Emperor  of,  306. 

RUTLEDGE,  John,  167. 

Salary,  Jefferson's,  215. 
Scandals  about  Jefferson,  310. 
Schools,  Jefferson's  early,  67. 
School  system,  Jefferson's,  257. 
Science,  services  to,  346. 
Scientific  inclinations,  290,  356. 
Seal,  Jefferson's,  18. 

of  the  United  States,  139. 

Secession     of     New    England 

feared,  277. 
Secretary  of  State,  Jefferson  as, 

149. 

Senate,  relations  with,  294. 
Servants,  Jefferson's,  211. 
Shadwell  estate,  21,  124. 
Shea's  Rebellion,  80. 
Silver  plate,  Jefferson's  family, 


'Sim 


"Simplicity,  Jeffersonian,"  186, 

.386. 

Sincerity,  Jefferson's,  154,  167. 
Sister  Jane,  Jefferson's,  23. 
Slavery,  83,  214. 
Slaves,  Jefferson's,  no. 
SMITH,   Professor  Francis    H., 

35p. 

Society,  rights  of,  303. 
Spanish  minister,  trouble  with, 

206. 


394 


INDEX 


Specific  appropriations  by  Con 
gress,  305. 

Speculation  in  stocks,  303. 

Spelling,  exactness  in,  37. 

—-reform  352. 

Spoilsman,  Adams  as  a,  153. 

,  Jefferson  as  a,  152. 

Spoils  system.  152. 

State  rights,  302,  306. 

Statutes,  Jefferson's  collection 
of,  76. 

Steam-engine,  first,  382. 

Studies,  Jefferson's  early,  70. 

Suffrage,  Jefferson  favors  lim 
ited,  292. 

Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  79,  245,  270. 


Tariff  on  imports,  299. 

TARLETON,  Major,  97,  197. 

Taxes,  297,  300. 

Temperance  habits,  318. 

Territories,  names  of  Jeffer 
son's,  184. 

Thanksgiving  proclamations, 
338. 

Theories,  Jefferson's,  358,  377. 

Threshing-machines,  Jeffer 
son's,  284,  357,  366. 

TILDEN,  Samuel  J.,  208,  319. 

Titles,  303,  307. 

Tobacco,  culture  of,  73. 

TYLER,  John,  59. 


Unconstitutionality  of  Louisi 
ana  Purchase,  177. 

Unitarian,  Jefferson  a,  308,  324. 

University  of  Virginia,  120,  254, 
267,  331,  350,  366. 

Versatility,  Jefferson's,  346,  358, 

380,  384- 
Veto  power,  283. 


Vice-President,  Jefferson's  ex- 
perience  as,  237. 

VICTORIA,  Queen,  Jefferson's 
autograph,  37. 

Violin,  Jefferson's,  25. 

Virginia  ungrateful  to  Jeffer 
son,  120. 

Voters,  qualifications  for,  292. 

War,  Jefferson's  abhorrence  of, 
170. 

WASHINGTON,  George,  60,  124, 
127,  195,  242,  250,  257,  272,  288, 
323,  375,  385,  388. 

,  Mrs.  Martha,  57. 

Watt's  steam-engine,  382 . 

WAYLES,  John,  father-in-law, 
3i)  33,  321. 

reakness  of  Jefferson  as  Presi 
dent,  173. 

Wealth,  distribution  of,  296. 

of  Jefferson,  33,  52. 

WEBSTER,  Daniel,  102,  235. 

Wedding,  Jefferson's,  32. 

Wheat,  market  for,  114. 

WHITNEY,  Eli,  377. 

Wife,   death  of  Jefferson's,  33, 


We 


96,  197. 
WIL: 


ILKINSON,  General,  232. 
Will,  Jefferson's,  52,  88,  220. 
William  and  Mary  College,  56, 

(63,  68,  121,  257. 
iamsburg,  Virginia,  55,  59. 


wfi 


Wine  bills,  Jefferson's,  212,  319. 
WISTAR,  Dr.,  362. 
Women  in  office,  153. 
WREN,  Sir  Christopher,  57. 
WYTHE,  George,  58,  69,  75,  374. 

Youthful  appearance  of  Jeffer 
son,  24. 

YRUJO,  Spanish  minister,  206, 
233- 

Zoology,  359. 


THE    END 


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